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V 



PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES 

VISITED 

In a Winding Journey 

AROUND THE WORLD 



0\ W! WIGHT, A. M., M. D. 



Author of Abelard and Heloise, BIaxims of Public Health, Etc. 

Translator of Cousin, Pascal, Etc. 

Editor of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy, Montaigne, Madame de Stael's 

Germany, Etc. 

Member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States 

Honorary Member of the New York Society of Medical Jurisprudence 

Corresponding BIember of the New York Medico-Legal Society 

Corresponding Member of the New York Historical Society 

Member of the American Medical Association 

Member op the British BIedical Association 

Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

Etc. Etc. 




DETROIT 

Raynor & Taylor, 75 Bates Street 

1888. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, hj 

O. W. WIGHT, A. M., M. D., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



All Rights Reserved. 






\ 



PREFACE. 



Last year I made a long, winding journey around the 
globe, in order to observe every country in wMcb an Aryan 
people has established civil government. One looks in vain 
elsewhere for progress and liberty. The Aryan nations of 
antiquity, Greece and Eome, must be studied in history, for 
the Greek and Eoman peoples have passed away and can 
no longer be observed in their daily life. Yet the lands 
occupied by these vanished races may still be visited by 
the traveler, who can at least become familiar with the 
scenes in the midst of which they dwelt. The study of Aryan 
peoples, whether living or departed, can alone reveal to 
us the origin and development of the world's civilization. 

History is comparatively barren without a knowledge of 
geography. Maps may aid us much, especially when 
studied with the help of some experience and a vivid im. 
agination ; but traveling alone can give us true geographi- 
cal knowledge. Current history becomes real to us, is 
translated into personal experience, only when by traveling 
we observe at once people and country in their intimate 
relations. In pursuit of such vital knowledge, I traversed 
Europe from north to south, from east to west, and jour- 
neyed far off to Australia and New Zealand, on the other 



Vi PREFACE. 

side of the globe, where fresh Aryan communities are 
planting civil liberty in the southern hemisphere. 

Art, science, literature are, with a very few notable 
exceptions, the products of Aryan civilization, and can 
be studied only in countries occupied by Aryan peoples. 
Above all, in such countries alone do we find recognition 
of human rights and the establishment of institutions for 
the benefit of the many. There is doubtless room for 
progress in the most enlightened nations, for civilization 
has not yet borne all its fruits. 

In the two introductory chapters of this book I have 
given some reminiscences of previous journeys, for the 
purpose of fully and, I hope, clearly revealing to the 
reader my own standpoint while writing it. More than a 
quarter of a century ago I spent several years in Europe, 
the experiences of which enabled me during my recent 
journey to note the progress made by many civilized nations 
within my own recollection. In the slow development of 
the human race, it aifords one an exalted pleasure to see 
with his own eyes a real advancement. During the whole 
of the nineteenth century, the masses of Europe have, by 
degrees, won the right to better education, to retain for 
themselves more and more of the bread earned by their 
toil, to enjoy a wider freedom of conscience, and to share 
in an increasing degree in the making of the laws by 
which they are governed. 

I have also aimed to make these two chapters of remi- 
niscences interesting to the general reader. With this sub- 
ordinate end in view, I have given portraitures and 
unpublished anecdotes of many interesting or distinguished 



PREFACE. Vii 

persons of the past generation, whom it was my good for- 
tune to meet. Personal sketches that might have been im- 
proper, in bad taste, or in violation of hospitality, if 
written concerning the living, are now in place as a part 
of history. 

The leading purpose of the book, however, is political 
and social. I have aimed to draw faithful portraits of the 
leading civilized nations of the world as they exist to-day. 
Of course, the features of the great peoples of the earth can 
*be drawn only in outline on the small pieces of canvas 
that constitute the brief chapters of a single volume. Yet 
generalizations, if true to fact, if they are the results of 
accurate observation, if, above all, they embody the real 
laws that govern the development of humanity in time and 
space, are the best aids to a fruitful study of detailed history. 

The reader may or may not accept my philosophical 
definition of a nation, yet it will certainly reveal to him 
that underlying every independent national existence is a 
problem wider, deeper, than form of government, territorial 
possession, succession of events, or transition of passing 
generations of men. "Whether my particular theory is ac- 
cepted or not, my object will be gained if I succeed in 
convincing the reader that the Providence of history has a 
rational basis. Travel among the peoples of the world may 
well have a higher aim than personal amusement or 
material pleasure. 

"What shapest thou here at the world? 
'Twas shapen long ago ; 
The Maker shaped it, 
And thought 'twere best even so." 



Viii PEEFACE. 

The awakening and consolidation of nationalities have 
made the present century remarkable in the world's history. 
The French Eevolution, stimulated by the successM Ameri- 
can War of Independence, aroused the slumbering peoples 
of Europe. Men seemed to be suddenly freed from the 
torpor of a long period of tyranny. The French, under 
the magnificent leadership of Napoleon, were everywhere 
victorious, as long as they adhered to their mission of 
carrying freedom to other nations. But as soon as the victor 
of Marengo and Austerlitz began to substitute his own 
military despotism for the absolute rule of his predecessors, 
the nationalities of Europe, which he had himself helped 
to arouse into new life, combined for his overthrow. Not 
only was the career of Napoleon closed with the great battle 
of Leipsig, and the supplementary battle of Waterloo, but 
also the career of irresponsible government throughout the 
civilized world. The Congress of Vienna proposed, but the 
awakened nationalities disposed. The work of Metternich 
and Talleyrand has been undone, and to-day, throughout all 
Europe west of Turkey and Eussia, kings are only the 
hereditary executors of the will of the people. Constitu- 
tional and elective government has taken the place of 
absolutism. In the preceding centuries, each monarch said 
with Louis XIV., '^I am the State." In our day, before 
the close of the nineteenth century, the peoples of Western 
Europe are saying, "We are the State." The new German 
Empire, United Italy, Eepublican France, and progressive 
England are bearing the best fruits of political liberty. 
The wonderful transition, so full of hope to mankind, I have 
endeavored to trace clearly in the account of my long journey. 



PREFACE. IX 

Historical summaries, descriptions of places and scenery, 
statistics of national resources, pictures of social life, discus- 
sions of public policy, sketches of institutions, indications of 
material prosperity, accounts of tlie rapid recent advancement 
in the application of discoveries in science to commerce and 
war, are not wanting, but are given in subserviency to the 
main purpose of tracing the progress of civil liberty in 
the dominant nations of the world. The influence of 
America on the current history of mankind has not been 
sufficiently appreciated, and many of our statesmen are too 
ignorant of history to learn the useful lessons which other 
peoples might teach. 

Some Americans may think that I have treated Eussia 
too leniently. Let them study the country and people of 
the great empire in the light of universal history and they 
may come to a more comprehensive conclusion. Eussia 
has not yet reached the political development of the na- 
tions of western Europe, and should not be denounced for 
being what she is, for not trying to pluck the fruits of an 
advanced civilization before it is ripe. The Slavs are an 
Aryan race, in them is working the leaven of a noble form 
of Christianity, and I have no misgivings as to the glorious 
future of the Eussian people. They are our youngest 
brethren, and have worked their way up with true self- 
reliance and heroic endurance, to the mightiest nation on 
the globe, with the great and responsible mission of civiliz- 
ing the semi -barbarous Mohamedan people of Western and 
Central Asia, and in due time will give a good account of 
themselves in the mighty drama of the world's history. I 
have faith in them. 



X PREFACE. 

Since tlie chapter in this book on the ]N"ew German Empire 
was written, the venerable Emperor William has died, and 
has been succeeded by his son Frederick, who has in turn 
died, leaving the throne to his son William. A nation that 
has established constitutional government is much less 
affected by change of rulers than an absolute monarchy. 
The young emperor seems disposed to enter upon a reign 
of peace. His friendly visit to the Czar of Eussia 
destroys the last hope of France to make an alliance 
hostile to Germany, and has done more than any recent 
event to dispel fears of a European war. The rapid suc- 
cession of emperors in no way changes my views as to the 
meaning and destiny of the consolidated German nation. 

It is to be hoped that of the great army of cultivated 
and prosperous Americans who visit Europe, an increasing 
number will become students of history, of civil and politi- 
cal institutions, in short will become travelers and not mere 
tourists. I shall be contented if I have contributed, in the 
humblest way, to bring about such a desirable result. 

O. W. WIGHT. 

Detroit, July, 1888. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

INTRODUCTORY— R.K;]VLINISCEN:CKS OK 
PRKVIOUS JOURNE;YS. 

Page. 

Chapter I. First Journey - - - 17 

Chapter II, Second Journey - - - 57 



PART II. 

EUROPE;. 

Chapter I. Over the Sea — Improved Ocean 

Navigation ..... 89 

Chapter II. The New German Empire - 100 

Chapter III. United Italy - - - 125 

Chapter IY. Greece, seen from the Sea — 

Athens — The Acropolis - - - 148 

Chapter V. Constantinople and the Eastern 

Question ..... isi 

Chapter YI. The Black Sea - - - 207 

Chapter YII. Asiatic Russia - - 220 

Chapter YIII. European Eussia » • 239 

11 



Xll CONTENTS. 



Faqe. 



Chaptek IX. The place of Eussia in the 

European System - - - - 267 

Chapter X. Norway and Sweden - - 296 

Chapter XI. Cruise to the North Cape and 

Back — The Midnight Sun - - - 317 

Chapter XII. Copenhagen — Denmark — Scan- 
dinavia — Slesvig-Holstein - - - 338 

Chapter XIII. Holland and Belgium - 355 

Chapter XIV. The French Eepublic - - 370 

Chapter XY. Switzerland - - - 387 

Chapter XVI. The Battle of Waterloo - 396 

Chapter XVII. Eecent Progress in England 404 



PART III. 

TO THE; ANTIPODES. 

Chapter I. From London to Port Said — The 

Mediterranian Sea - - - - 426 

Chapter II. The Suez Canal - - 435 

Chapter III. The Eed Sea - - - 444 

Chapter IV. The Indian Ocean - - 452 

Chapter V. Australia . . - . 463 

Chapter VI. New Zealand - - 488 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

AllegoriK'al Title Page - • - Frontispiece. 

Loch Leven Castle - - - - - 22 ^ 

Solyrood Castle ..... 27 ^ 

Edinburgh • - - - • - 34 

Thomas Carlyle • - - - - 44 ^ 

Milan Cathedral - - - - - 65 \> 

Pope Pio Nono - - - • - 68^ 

Grand Canal at Venice - - - - - 7V 

Nbn Exit ...... 87 

Germania ...... 100 '^ 

Cblogne Cathedral - - ■ - - 103 

Yon Moltke ...... 105' 

Bismarck ...... 111>^ 

Emperor William I. - - - - - 116 

Emperor Frederick III. - - - - 124 ^ 

The Rialto at Venice - - - - - 126 " 

Palace of the Doge ..... 128 

Minerva ....... 148 ■ 

Albanian ...... 152' 

Modern Athens ...... 164 

The Acropolis - - . . . 166 

13 



XIV 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Acropolis Bestored 

Kaaba . . - - 

St. Sophia . _ - 

Mohamed III. entering Constantinople 

The Argonauts 

Dervishes of the Caucasus 

Shamyl . - - - 

Nicholas I. of Eussia 

Feter the Great 

Alexander III. of Russia 

Empress Catharine II. of Bussia 

Alexander I. of Bussia 

Alexander II. of Bussia 

Thorwaldsen' s Venus 

Queen Margaret of Denmarlc 

'Duke of Alva • - 

William of Orange 

The Needles - - - - 

Palm at Moses^ Weill 



Page. 

178 
181 
192 
199 
214 
234 
237 
252 
256 
266 
274 
277 
292 
343 
348 
362 
366 
427 
446 




PART I. 

Introductory.— Reminiscences of Previous Journeys. 



CHAPTER I. 

FIRST JOURNEY. 

OoME account of my previous journeys In Europe 
^^ seems to be necessary in order to enable the 
> reader to understand many allusions in this 
book. At the same time it will reveal the sources 
of personal information which could not have been 
acquired in a single year. Observations made long 
ago have enabled me to form comparative judg- 
ments that may be of more value than hasty first 
impressions. 

I first went to Europe in the spring of 1853. 
I was then young enough to enjoy everything with 
fresh zest, to seek knowledge of men and things 
with eager industry, to receive lasting impressions ; 
old enough to form judgments independent of guide- 
books, to view a world strange to me with my own 
eyes, ta discriminate between externals and enduring- 
realities. 

I sailed from Boston on the steamer Niagara. 
In comparison with the mighty steamships that now 
traverse all the oceans of the earth, the Niagara was 
small enough, uncomfortable enough, but in eleven 
days it landed me and many others safely in the 
city of Liverpool. On board was Hawthorne, who 
had recently been appointed consul to Liverpool, 



18 A WINDING JOURNEY 

with his family. Mrs. Hawthorne was a charming 
woman, who told me curious and interesting anec- 
dotes of her husband, of the people at Brook Farm, 
of Margaret Fuller, and of others, most of which 
have never found their way into print, which I have 
no inclination to repeat here. Julian and his older 
sister were exceedingly bright and vivacious children, 
with whom I spent many joyous hours in romping 
on the deck of the ship. 

John McDonald, now Sir John McDonald, then 
a youngish man, although holding some Canadian 
official position, was among the notables on board. 
He, Hawthorne and myself had long interesting 
conversations nearly every night, until the "wee 
small hours," over Welsh "rabbits" and porter, after 
which we took a "walk before breakfast" on deck. 
Hawthorne, usually so taciturn, was on such occa- 
sions one of the most brilliant talkers I ever listened 
to. From the somber depths of his nature would 
well up abundantly great utterances equal to any- 
thing written down in his books. 

From Liverpool I first went to see the country 
seat -of the Marquis of Westminster, as one of the 
notable sights in the neighborhood. His title of 
m^rqllis has since been raised to that of duke. The 
place was very fine, and at that time seemed to my 
Inexperienced eyes very dazzling. A description, 
written home at the time, would now appear to me 
'Teatly exaggerated. The servants of the wealthy 
nobleman were very obliging, and showed me, with 
others, through the mansion and over the grounds. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 19 

I then began to realize that England, in comparison 
with America, is like a garden. 

At the outset I was struck with the omnipre- 
sence of the police. Upon the principle that the 
government is best which governs least, the English 
government seemed very inferior to the American. 
According to the same principle a government that 
does not govern at all would be perfect. The para- 
dox leads up to Nihilism, which it would be out of 
place to discuss here. 

With little delay I hastened to the Lake District 
of England, not so much with the thought of 
enjoying the fine scenery as of making a pilgrimage 
to places consecrated by favorite poets. Less than 
thirty years of age, I was fuller then than now of 
Mrs. Hemans, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. 
A rose was plucked from the bush planted by Mrs. 
Hemans, and carried till it faded and crumbled. 
Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth lived and wrote 
and died, was approached with as much awe as a 
veteran churchman approaches Mount Sinai. The 
scenes amid which Coleridge lived and struggled 
seemed superior to ordinary earth and sky. The 
untimely grave of Hartley Coleridge was visited 
with feelings "too deep for tears." Only the English 
laws against poaching kept me from fishing in the 
beautiful stream so often waded by Mr. Christopher 
North — Professor Wilson. The Falls of Lodore 
made music for me as they had many times made 
music for Southey. Lakes and fields and mountains, 
forming exquisitely beautiful and picturesque land- 



20 A WINDING JOURNEY 

scapes, seemed to me to have been planted there at 
the dawn of creation, on purpose for the great poets 
that were to come in these latest times. My daily 
walks, which increased up to twenty miles, together 
with the bracing air of northern England, gradually 
reddened my blood, and did me the wholesome ser- 
vice of tempering my superlative poetic sentiment. 

At Ambleside, in the lake district, Harriet Mar- 
tineau invited me and another American gentleman, 
a clergyman from Cincinnati, to tea. She lived in 
a beautiful cottage surrounded by lawns, shrubs 
and roses, altogether forming a pretty picture of 
refined taste and comfort. Miss Martineau was well 
advanced in years, fat, homely, and distressingly 
deaf. She put in your lap a tin-pan, connected 
with her ear by a long tin tube, into which (the 
tin-pan, not the ear) one directed his conversation. 
She was full of pleasant anecdotes, and a brilliant 
talker. Just then she was carrying on her corre- 
spondence with Atkinson, and had become a firm 
believer in mesmerism. She gravely told me how 
she had broken a cow of the bad habit of kicking 
over both the milk and the milkmaid by mesmerizing 
the animal only once. Miss Martineau told a 
characteristic story of Margaret Fuller, which, I 
believe, has never been published. At the time of 
Margaret's visit to her, an aged mother was living 
with her. The old lady became very fond of Miss 
Fuller, and enjoyed her magnificent conversation 
very much. One day Margaret looked the venerable 
woman straight in the face and discoursed at length 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 21 

and with great eloquence on the " unloveHness of 
old age." The response was brief and very appro- 
priate. "Alas!" exclaimed her astonished listener, 
" the poor creature is stark mad." 

From the Lake District I hurried on to Scotland, 
fully determined to see everything described by Sir 
Walter Scott. I had not yet learned that one sees 
only what is behind his own eyes. A cat may look 
at a king, but does not see the king. No other 
mortal will ever see in Scotland all that the great 
novelist had behind his eyes and wrote about so 
enchantingly. 

However, I traveled all over Scotland and looked 
much upon one of the fairest lands of earth. Ayr- 
shire was not to me very picturesque, but its soil 
had been consecrated by the feet of Robert Burns. 
The poet of humanity, toiling, suffering, erring, had 
transformed a considerable piece of common earth 
into an enchanted land. Even Tam O'Shanter's 
tavern was a welcome asylum on a rainy day, and 
the leaking old cup, said to have been used too 
freely by the poet, served for a questionable kind 
of communion. The "dew off Ben Nevis" seemed 
to be the especial nectar of Scotch gods, and was 
quaffed abundantly in memory of the national 
poet. 

At Glasofow I was initiated into the Burns Club. 
A prosperous merchant, especially noted for his 
large gifts to the New Kirk, took me there without 
letting me know in what the initiation was to con- 
sist. The company was not very large, but select. 



22 , A WLNDINGr JOUKNEY 

TJie chairman informed me that the initiation 
consisted in drinking fourteen tumblers of Scotch 
whisky toddy, which were not very formidable to 
the seasoned old members of the club, but might 
be rather trying to an inexperienced American. I 
had too much pride, false pride, to back out, yet 
dreaded the fiery ordeal. Membership in the club 
was not worth such an encounter with the demon. 
The whisky was measured for me — a sherry glass 
even full for each toddy. You could mix with the 
whisky as much or little sugar, as much or little 
hot or cold water as you pleased, but there was no 
shirking the exact quantity of spirits. I worked 
my way through the ordeal, in the course of the 
evening, triumphantly, but played a trick on them 
which no one discovered. There was an abundance 
of hard biscuit, as they called it, which we should 
call "hard tack." I nibbled plentifully of that, 
which absorbed much of the alcohol and held its 
intoxicating power in abeyance. I not only took 
my allotted fourteen tumblers, but also two more, 
out of bravado, then helped my friend home, who 
had rather treacherously taken me there, went alone 
to my hotel, wound up my watch, and went to bed 
with my head in the right end of the bed. I was 
a member in full standing of the Glasgow Burns 
Club, which I have never visited since. 

Excursions were made everywhere, over Loch 
Lomond, over Loch Katrine, down the Clyde, away 
to the islands of lona and Staffa, out to Loch 
Leven and Loch Awe, through the Caledonian 




liOCH IiEVEN CASTIiE. 



AKOUND THE WORLD 23 

Canal to Inverness, along the Grampian Hills to 
Perth, to Edinburgh and its suburbs, to Abbotsford, 
etc. Foot journeys were also made in all directions, 
through winding valleys, across dreary moorlands, 
and up rocky mountains. I had the rare good 
fortune to see a clear sunset from the top of Ben 
Nevis. A good many times I saw the sun rise and 
set from the' top of Arthur's Seat, at Edinburgh. 

I achieved one pedestrian victory, in which I 
felt some pride as an American. At a country inn, 
not far off from Glasgow, I met two pleasant 
English barristers, who informed me that they had 
journeyed from London on foot. They said they 
were traveling towards Fort William, at the entrance 
of the Caledonian Canal, and intended to make the 
circuit of all Scotland. I informed them that my 
destination was the same as theirs, and proposed 
to accompany them, with their permission. They 
readily assented, but told me with frankness that 
they were seasoned pedestrians and could not linger 
by the way for the sake of anyone's company, how- 
ever agreeable it might be. I responded that I 
would do my best to keep up with them, but did 
not wish them on any account to slacken their pace 
for me. The next morning we set out together, 
" bright and early." On we went, over the highlands 
and through the passes between Loch Lomond and 
Loch Awe, here and there catching strangely beau- 
tiful glimpses of both waters and the surrounding 
mountains. One of the barristers fell out at about 
the thirty-fifth milestone. The other, the more 



24 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Stalwart of the two, was roused by a little chaffing 
on my part and proposed to have it out with the 
Yankee — England against America. I was athletic 
and just at the right stage of pedestrian training. 
On we went, round the head of Loch Awe, towards 
the western ocean. My companion gave up the 
race at the forty-sixth milestone, and I continued 
alone to the fifty-first. The two Englishmen came 
up the next day and acknowledged that America 
had beaten. Subsequently we climbed Ben Nevis 
together, and they turned out to be very agreeable 
and exceedingly intelligent fellow-travelers. 

One day a little party of us went on a boat 
from Edinburgh, up the snake-like river to Sterling 
Castle. Among the number was a diminutive 
American gentleman, whose self-consciousness and 
egotism were in inverse ratio to the dimensions of 
his body. He discoursed to us with much anti- 
quarian knowledge about the great broad-brimmed 
hat of Cromwell, which we should find among the 
curiosities of the castle. He informed us that 
Fowler had measured his head and found it to be 
just the size of Daniel Webster's head. He was 
very certain that Webster's head was as large as, 
or larger than, the head of Oliver Cromwell. There- 
fore, he knew the Cromwell hat would fit him, if, 
indeed, it were large enough. Soon after we entered 
the castle, the janitor, posted by some of the rest 
of us, put the famous hat on the head of the small 
American. It fell down upon his shoulders, entirely 
covering his face, making his slender body and thin 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 25 

legs look Still more insignificant than usual. He 
looked like an ant carrying off an egg much larger 
than itself. Great was the amusement of the rest, 
and still greater the chagrin of the little gentleman, 
who had argued himself into the belief that his head 
was at least as large as Oliver 'Cromwell's. 

In the middle of summer I spent a restful Sunday 
in a small village at the head of Loch Awe. Early 
Monday morning I went to the stage office to engage 
a seat for the head of Loch Lomond. The distance 
by the road, as it wound among the mountains along 
the circuitous valleys, was thirty-five miles. The con- 
ductor informed me that every place was taken, and 
that I must wait till the next morning. Rather petu- 
lantly and rashly I told him that I would arrive at 
his destination on foot before his stage arrived. The 
passengers, securely arranged in their seats, laughed 
at me scornfully. An Englishman wanted to bet me 
a guinea. I responded that I never bet money, but 
would bet him a bottle of wine for our dinner. He 
"booked" the bet and the stage drove off. A good 
map of Scotland, always carried in my pocket, 
showed me that the distance straight across, over 
the mountain range, was not more than eleven miles. 
It also revealed that a short distance ahead a stream 
came down from the summit of the mountain, and 
that a stream, taking its rise from the same point, 
descended on the opposite side. With those two 
streams as guides I crossed over in little more than 
three hours. On a railing of the bridge over a 
torrent, not more than half a mile from the hotel 



26 A WINDING JOURNEY. 

at the end of the route, Macaulay, the liistorian, 
was sitting with a book in his hand. He enquired 
of me, in an off-hand way, the reason for my rapid 
pace. I told him the story, at which he laughed 
heartily, and remarked : " You Americans always 
contrive to come out ahead." It is the only time I 
ever saw him, and I was polite enough not to indi- 
cate to him that I knew who he was. I admired 
his large round head and plump, vigorous body. He 
looked an incarnation of memory, a walking maga- 
zine of rhetoric and facts. Of course the English- 
man paid his bet, and the laugh was on the other 
side. 

One dreary, chilly, misty, gusty afternoon, I went 
over Loch Lomond, when there were but few pas- 
sengers on the boat. I noticed the Duchess of 
Argyle, with two female servants, accompanied by 
her two boys, "strawberry blonds," bright, agile, 
high-bred, one of whom, long afterwards, married 
a daughter of the English Queen, the other of 
whom, not long ago, became notorious in the divorce 
court. The duchess, taking the initiative, entered 
into conversation with me, and made herself exceed- 
ingly agreeable. I gave her my arm down the 
slippery gang-plank to the dock, from which a road 
led up to Inverary Castle, the seat of the Duke of 
Argyle. She thanked me warmly, and I lifted my 
hat to her without betraying in any way that I 
knew who she was. She had previously been 
pointed out to me, in company with her mother, 
the stately Duchess of Sutherland, and her two 







-'j^fTiTVt/itrWi 




HOLYROOD CASTLE. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 27 

beautiful sisters, the Duchess of Blantyre and the 
Lady Grosvenor, the wife of the eldest son of the 
Marquis of Westminster. I mention this unim- 
portant incident solely for the purpose of bearing 
my testimony against a very general impression at 
home that English people in traveling are haughty, 
stiff, reserved and unapproachable. My experience, 
of many years in many lands, has been to the 
contrary. 

At Edinburgh I first saw Queen Victoria, 
young, fair, happy-looking, sitting proudly by the 
stately Prince Consort in a royal carriage, receiv- 
ing the homage of her loyal Scotch subjects. 
Standing on the balcony of a hotel I lifted my 
hat and bowed respectfully as they passed, and 
received a bow in return. A British gentleman 
by my side remarked sarcastically, "They evidently 
take you to be somebody." I felt that I was one 
of the sovereign people of the United States, treated 
the queen of Great Britain and her consort with 
deferential courtesy as fellow-sovereigns, and was 
treated with civility in return. Noblesse oblige. My 
relation to the majesty of England was, in a certain 
sense, higher than that of my sarcastic friend. 

Sir William Hamilton, the renowned Scotch meta- 
physician, whose miscellaneous philosophic papers I 
had already collected and published in America, 
called on me at my hotel in Edinburgh, and gave 
me a cordial invitation to spend a week with him 
at Largo, on the other side of the Forth, whither he 
had gone to spend the summer vacation. The invi- 



28 A WINDING JOURNEY 

tation was thankfully accepted. A more beautiful, 
refined, cultured household never existed on this 
planet than that of Sir William Hamilton. Several 
of the professors of Edinburgh University were 
spending the summer in the neighborhood, some 
one of whom, with his family, usually dropped in of 
an evening, forming a group of intellectual people 
whose conversation was in pleasing contrast with 
the idle chit-chat of merely formal society. Sir 
William's oldest son, Hubert, who became Sir 
Hubert Hamilton, on the death of his father, was 
home from Oxford for the vacation, made with me 
long tramps by the sea shore and over the hills 
during the morning hours. 

Lady Hamilton was one of the best of wives 
and mothers, one of the noblest of women. One 
of the Edinburgh professors told me a pleasing, 
romantic little story of her marriage. Sir William 
spent his nights and days in the midst of his great 
folios, exploring the whole' realm of philosophic 
literature. His mother, well advanced in years, 
kept house for him. With the mother lived a 
favorite niece, whom she educated and cared for 
as a daughter. At length the mother died. The 
next day after the funeral. Sir William found his 
cousin packing her trunks, in preparation for her 
departure. He was greatly distressed and demanded 
to know why she was going away, just when her 
society and services were more needed than ever. 
Of course she could give him no explanation, but 
kept on with her packing. He sought the advice of 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 29 

a friend, who happened to be more experienced in 
the ways of the world and understood better the 
dehcate instincts of woman. The explanations of 
his friend revealed to Sir William what had never 
entered into the imagination of a man of unequaled 
loftiness and purity of soul. He went home and 
immediately proposed marriage to his cousin. Un- 
clouded domestic happiness was the sweet reward 
of their lives. 

Hubert Hamilton told me an anecdote illustrating 
his father's wonderful, almost miraculous, memory. 
The Greek professor came to him one day greatly 
pleased with what he thought to be a new discovery 
of a piece of exquisite Greek poetry. Sir William, 
forgetting that other men's memories were not equal 
to his own, asked the professor to repeat the passage, 
which was of considerable length. That was impos- 
sible, but the first line happened to be recalled. 
Hamilton repeated the line and went on reciting 
the whole passage, which he happened to have seen 
quoted by one of the Scaligers. Sir William was 
really a monster of erudition, to repeat John Fiske's 
phrase, such as we find only in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. 

I had the great happiness, some months later 
in London, to effect a reconciliation between Sir 
William Hamilton and M. Cousin, the eminent 
French eclectic philosopher. Hamilton had reviewed 
Cousin's system with great severity in the Edinburgh 
Quarterly, which provoked the wrath of the mer- 
curial Frenchman. In London, at the special request 



30 A WINDING JOUENEY 

of M. Cousin, I translated his admirable volume, 
entitled "The True, the Beautiful, and the Good," 
which I dedicated to Sir William, in terms which 
elicited his warm eulogy. There followed a cor- 
respondence which ended in a treaty of peace 
between the two eminent philosophers. 

When I left Largo, Sir William Hamilton gave 
me a letter of introduction to Professor Ferrier, of 
St. Andrew's. At a dinner to which Professor 
Ferrier kindly invited me, I saw, among others, Sir 
David Brewster, a man of great note in his day, 
who failed to impress me in any particular manner 
that can now be recalled. In Professor Ferrier's 
house was his father-in-law. Professor Wilson, the 
famous " Kit North," lying helpless, imbecile, with 
softening of the brain. I was asked to see him, 
but declined, not wishing to carry henceforth in my 
mind a painful picture of one whose writings I had 
admired. 

At Edinburgh I received a note, in small neat 
hand, from De Quincey, inviting me to dine with 
him. He excused himself for not havingf called 
in person, as he lived eight miles away and was an 
invalid. The invitation was gladly accepted. When 
the day arrived I took my stout hickory walking- 
stick, wandered away round Arthur's Seat and on 
the highway to Lasswade, where De Quincey then 
lived. In the single street of the little Scotch 
village, while looking for some one of whom to 
enquire where the house of De Quincey was, I 
met two pretty young ladies, plainly but neatly 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 31 

dressed, who separated on my approach, one of 
them taking my right arm, the other my left. 
Immediately one of them says to me : " You are 
going to dine with my father, to-day." They then 
introduced me to one another and led me across a 
meadow, fragrant with new-mown hay, to a copse 
of wood, in the midst of which stood a neat little 
brick cottage, near a swift-flowing brook, making 
soft water-fall music, as it broke over rocks, which 
mingled sweetly with the multitudinous hum of 
insects in the summer air. They led me into a 
small, plainly-furnished drawing-room, begging me 
to excuse their mother and an older sister, who were 
too ill to see company, and informing me that their 
father would soon appear. 

The De Quincey's had lived some time in the 
Lake District of England, and naturally the conver- 
sation turned upon the famous poets, about whom 
the young ladies were quite as enthusiastic as myself. 
For a long time we had been discussing Wordsworth, 
Coleridge, and all the rest, when there glided noise- 
lessly into the room, like a shadow, a little, weird- 
looking old man, saffron-colored, with unkempt hair, 
dirty collar, long snuff-brown coat, feet sliding about 
in large india-rubber galoshes, and extended to me 
a wee, fleshless hand, more like a bird-claw than 
"the prehensile organ of man's, supremacy." The 
daughters seated him tenderly in one corner of a 
large arm-chair, where he sank almost out of sight. 
A few formal enquiries were made about men and 
things in America, beyond which there was little 



32 A wiNDiisra joueney 

conversation. He spoke especially of Mr. Fields, 
very lovingly, for sending him a portion of the 
profits on the reprint of his books by the house of 
Ticknor & Fields, at a time when he sorely needed 
money. He soon settled down into a dreamy, half- 
waking doze, when the conversation with the bright, 
agreeable young ladies, about the Lake poets, was 
gladly resumed. 

At length dinner was announced, and De Quincey 
led one of the daughters, or rather she led him, to 
a small dining-room in the basement, and I followed 
with the other. The dinner was very simple and 
very excellent — soup, a leg of delicious Scotch 
heather mutton, plum pudding — prepared by a ven- 
erable Scotch woman, who evidently knew her 
business as cook. Sherry and port, the inevitable 
wines of all British dinners, were on the table. The 
conversation, mostly between the young ladies and 
myself, was animated, and on the same old theme. 

At the close of dinner the ladies retired to the 
drawing-room, according to the stereotyped British 
custom, leaving De Quincey and myself alone. We 
drank a glass of wine together, and he discoursed a 
short time in a languid manner, mostly about the 
unlovely character of the Scotch. Excusing himself, 
he took from his vest pocket a pill of opium as 
large as a small hickory-nut and swallowed it. Soon 
his large head began to waver on his small neck, 
and he laid it down on his thin arms folded over 
one corner of the table. On his invitation I was 
glad to escape to the young ladies above. It had 



AROUND THE WORLD. 33 

been publicly announced some time before that 
De Quincey had quit opium eating; therefore I 
respected hospitality and did not mention my exper- 
ience till long after his death. 

In the drawing-room we returned to our beloved 
Lake poets with renewed zest. Time passed rapidly 
and I was about to take my leave when again the 
little weird old man glided noiselessly into the room. 
Again the daughters stowed him away in one corner 
of the large arm-chair. He soon dozed and we went 
on with our romantic talk. Soon, however, the 
withered divinity showed signs of awakening, when 
one of the young ladies remarked that her father 
imitated the voice of Mr. Wordsworth so perfectly 
that intimate friends of both in the next room, or 
out of sight, could not tell which was reading. 
Thereupon she took from a shelf a volume of 
Wordsworth's poetry, opened it at the Ode on 
Immortality, and spread it out on the arm of the 
chair by her father's side. He rubbed his eyes and 
drawled his way through the poem everlastingly. 
I thought to myself if that was the way Wordsworth 
read they were fortunate who never heard him. As 
he closed the book a strange light seemed to glow 
through his eyes and illuminate his face. He began 
to talk with a voice that seemed to flow out of the 
Unknown — low, mellifluous, ceaseless, filling one with 
awe. We listened almost breathless and soon found 
ourselves sitting on the floor at his feet, looking 
into his transfigured face, like entranced children. 
On, on, he discoursed, as I have never heard 

3 



34 A WINDING JOUKNEY 

mortal discourse, before or since. If one could 
imagine all the wisdom, sentiment and learning to 
be crushed from De Quincey's many volumes of 
printed books, and to be poured out, a continuous 
stream, he might form some conception of that 
long discourse — how long we knew not. It was a 
prolonged and intensified suspiria de profundis. 
That group would form a picture worthy of the 
pencil of Correggio or' Titian. 

When the monologue ceased, I looked at my 
watch and found it was three o'clock in the morning. 
The poor, exhausted old man of genius, whom I 
felt like crushing to my heart, had a tallow dip 
lighted to show me through the trees to the road- 
side gate. I took my leave of the little household, 
who had entertained me with a true banquet of the 
gods, and walked to Edinburgh, in the beautiful 
Scotch gloaming, beholding on the way the great 
sun rising full-orbed from the distant sea, and medi- 
tating on many things. 

From Scotland I went to York. The famous 
Minster there and other things were visited, but 
it is not in place to describe them here. 

Manchester was reached in turn, but it is not 
within my present purpose to give an account of 
any of the great manufacturing cities of England. 

The next journey was through Wales to Dublin. 
Snowdon, the great Tubular Bridge, and many other 
things seen on the way were ve^-v interesting to me, 
but the reader must seek elsewhere for better descrip- 
tions of them than I could give after many years. 



36 A WINDING JOURNEY 

rambles Tom and I had together through more than 
a thousand acres of well kept grounds surrounding 
the stately mansion. Mr. Gresham was a widower, 
and he and his son constituted the entire household. 
Tom warned me to be ready for a dinner party in 
the evening. 

Mr. Gresham returned at night-fall and soon 
there followed him a dozen gentlemen, most of 
whom were of a convivial turn of mind. There 
were two members of parliament, a bishop, two or 
three lawyers, a doctor or two, and several mer- 
chants and bankers. The dinner was superb. Mr. 
Gresham told his Dublin friends that he had invited 
them to meet an American gentleman who was his 
guest. Toasts were drank and speeches made all 
around. Irishmen were full of fresh gratitude to 
America for generosity manifested during the great 
famine. There were no ladies present, and the 
party broke up late. 

The next morning Mr. Gresham again excused 
himself on account of business, but put at my 
disposal an elegant open carriage, the intelligent 
driver of which he had supplied for me with special 
tickets of admission to the most interesting places 
in Dublin. The livery of Mr. Gresham, one of 
the wealthiest men in Ireland, was known by every- 
body, and I was treated with marked consideration. 

At evening another dinner-party assembled, more 
convivial, if possible, than the previous one. The 
next day I insisted on taking leave and my extem- 
poraneous host drove with me to the Gresham 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 37 

Hotel, in Dublin, which I found was owned by 
him and named after him. The magnificent hos- 
pitality that I had received spontaneously from a 
stranger was such as only an Irishman has the 
bigness of heart to bestow. 

From Dublin I went on to Killarney, in the 
center of the most picturesque portion of Ireland. 
During a morning walk from the village of Killarney, 
through the Pass of Dunloe, to the upper lake, a 
distance of eighteen miles, I counted over four 
hundred beggars, most of them children, some of 
whom followed me for hours. They were in tatters 
and begged from necessity and not professionally. 
It was impossible to relieve the distress of so many. 
Their naked limbs, sunken eyes and lean faces pro- 
claimed the woes of Ireland more eloquently than 
whole volumes of sensational literature. Indeed, 
the people of the Emerald Isle have suffered more 
oppression and wrong than any other people under 
the sun except the Jews. 

The lakes of Killarney are quite as beautiful as 
any of the lochs of Scotland. It was not far to 
the squalid city of Cork, and from there a short 
sail down the river took me to the beautiful harbor 
of Queenstown, where the fleets of England were 
gathering for review before sailing for Kronstadt 
and the Crimea. 

The summer was drawing to a close and I 
hastened to London. Westminster Abbey, the 
Tower, the British Museum, and many other 
memorable and wonderful things, eagerly visited, 



38 A WINDING JOURNEY 

have been described a hundred times with great 
eloquence, and I have no desire to enter the field 
against a host of trained competitors. My object 
here is rather to give some account of eminent 
men whom by favoring chance I met. Descriptions 
of ereat London abound and must be sous^ht 
elsewhere. 

I had a strong letter of introduction from 
Hawthorne to Mr. Buchanan, who was then our 
minister to England. The letter was sent in to 
the minister in due form and Mr. Buchanan sent 
out his secretary, " Dan " Sickles, as everybody then 
called him, to see what I wanted. I told him, with 
,a contempt probably not well concealed, that I 
wanted a passport for the continent, which was 
duly made out, and for which the fee was promptly 
paid. Mr. Buchanan probably regarded Hawthorne 
as one of "them literary fellers," and attached very 
little importance to his letter. I did not trouble 
the legation again. Other experiences I had sub- 
sequently with American ministers of the period, 
which will be recounted further on. 

I had a letter from Mr. Freeman Hunt, of New 
York, famous in his day as the founder and editor 
of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, to Mr. Bell, 
manager of the London Chartered Bank of Aus- 
tralia, who responded without delay, called on me 
and invited me to dinner. He lived at Greenwich 
near the Observatory, in a sumptuous way. At 
table I met Mr. Gilbart, manager of the London 
and Westminster Bank, well known as a financial 



AROUND THE WOULD. 39 

wM'ter ; Mr. Levi, professor of Commercial Law 
in King's College, and other financial celebrities. 
The invitation to dinner was repeated as often as 
every other Sunday afternoon during my sojourn 
of more than three months in London. The 
same company was always there. I greatly enjoyed 
the conversation of these eminent financiers. As 
Emerson says, they were "other men and the 
otherest." 

Once I met there a high custom-house official, 
who invited me to visit with him the London 
Docks. We had merchants' orders for tasting 
wines in the famous vaults. We wandered through 
eighteen acres of port wine vaults, deep under 
ground, where the temperature was even the year 
round. The vaults for other wines were hardly 
less in extent. Nothing could impress one more 
profoundly with the magnitude of London as the 
commercial center of the globe. Very astonishing 
to me was the place where "Old London Dock 
Gin" was manufactured and bottled. A huge tun, 
holding one hundred and twenty-six thousand gal- 
lons, was located in a large, deep, circular pit. 
Whole demijohns of nitric acid, whole barrels of 
refined sugar, and bottles of the essence of juniper, 
were poured into the lofty tun filled with British 
spirits, and men on elevated platforms stirred up 
the contents with rakes forty feet long. Around 
the base of the tun was a circular row of old men 
and boys sitting on stools and drawing the con- 
tents from taps into bottles, which others received 



40 A WINDING JOURNEY 

and packed in cases for the market. Every now 
and then one of the old men or boys would drop 
off from his stool, drunken with the fumes of the 
potent liquor. He was laid carefully on a pile of 
straw to sleep off his intoxication. I have never 
tasted old London Dock gin since. 

Mr. Gilbart seemed to take a liking to me, as 
'I certainly did to him. Nearly always we went 
together to Mr. Bell's fine Sunday dinners, and 
also returned together. On the road was the 
Great Eastern, in process of construction, looming 
from the Greenwich stocks high into the air, like 
some huge monster, promising to overshadow all 
ships previously built. The failure, it is hardly 
necessary to state, has been as huge as the craft 
itself. As I write, after more than thirty years, 
the newspapers are reporting that the colossal 
steamship is being broken up for junk. 

Mr. Gilbart was a bachelor, with plenty of 
money and plenty of leisure. He belonged to 
half the learned societies of London. Very often 
he would call for me to attend with him the 
addresses or lectures before these learned bodies, 
thus affording me opportunities to see and hear 
scientific celebrities. He was one of the Council 
of the Royal Geographical Society, and as such 
had the privilege of taking with him one guest to 
the annual dinner. He selected me, much to my 
gratification. There were seventeen at dinner, with 
Prince Albert in the chair. The dinner was at the 
Thatched House Tavern, famous lonor agfo for the 



AEOUND THE WORLD 41 

meetings of Ben. Johnson and other renowned 
banqueters, whose "wit sparkled Hke salt in fire." 
The Council of the Royal Geographical Society, 
and the sober-minded prince consort, were not 
enticed away by the genius of the place from a 
solid discussion of scientific explorations. The 
dinner was faultless, and the propriety of the 
occasion was maintained with a dignity bordering 
on solemnity. 

Dr. Ashburner, a rather noted physician, a gen- 
tleman of considerable literary culture, the translator 
of Von Reichenback's book on " Odic Lieht," 
called on me after I had been in London a few 
days and kindly invited me to dine. He was living 
in a pretentious house near the main entrance of 
Hyde Park, and seemed to have a lucrative prac- 
tice. His wife was very able and decidedly skeptical 
about the doctor's spiritualistic views. She ridiculed 
with caustic sarcasm his belief in "spirit rappings," 
and if her criticisms of Von Reichenbach's visionary 
philosophy could have been published in the Times 
they would have made a sensation. At the house 
of Dr. Ashburner I met several London physicians 
who were believers, or half believers, in the new 
theory and practice of communicating with the 
spirits of the dead by means of taps on tables. 
Some of them are still living and filling high 
places, and would not like to have their names 
mentioned in connection with their earlier faith. 

Dr. Ashburner introduced me to a Mrs. Hayden, 
from Boston, who was living with her husband in 



42 A WESTDING JOUENEY 

Great Queen Anne Street, near Cavendish Square. 
She was a professional "medium," and was quite 
the rage at the time. At her house I met several 
notable men ; among others. Lord Brougham, whose 
big, ugly Scotch face would have made a good 
mould in which to cast comic, brass door-knockers; 
and Bulwer, a polished and accomplished dandy, 
whose novels are sifted over with the diamond dust 
of sensuousness more seductive to susceptible minds 
than the shameless realism of Zola. I took to Mrs. 
Hayden's house, one evening, Mr. Angus Fletcher, 
whom I had met by chance in the highlands of 
Scotland, in company with his accomplished sister 
and her daughter. His mother was the famous 
Mrs. Fletcher, of Edinburgh, whose house was a 
literary Mecca at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century, to which American cultured travelers of 
an earlier generation, like Edward Everett, were 
happy to gain admission. Fletcher, who was a 
great skeptic in such matters, sat down for a seance 
with the spirits. The first letters rapped out by 
Mrs. Hayden on the table for him, spelled in full 
the maiden name of Mrs. Hemans. The old man 
— rather prematurely old — gasped for breath, threw 
down a sovereign, leaned heavily on my arm and 
left the house. He acknowledged to me that he 
had loved Mrs. Hemans, in his youth, and that 
she was the only woman he ever had loved. I 
never could get him to talk about a seance with 
the spirits afterwards. 

By the way, Mr. Fletcher knew a multitude of 



AROUND THE WORLD. 43 

nice people in London, and very kindly introduced 
me to many. Through him I received an invitation 
to an evening gathering, where, among others, most 
of the contributors of Punch were assembled. My 
impressions of different ones were so confused that 
I am unable at this length of time to give any 
descriptive portraits. Thackeray was present for a 
short time, and seemed very stately and reserved. 
A lady remarked to me, with some acerbity : "If 
Thackeray only had ten thousand a year his dignity 
would be perfectly overwhelming." Poor woman ! 
He had a towering genius which she could not 
understand, and a mighty sorrow in his heart of 
which she knew nothing. 

Not long after my arrival In London I made 
the acquaintance of Thomas Carlyle. He was then 
in the prime of his manhood, in the full strength 
of his genius. He invited me to tea, where I saw 
him and Mrs. Carlyle alone. After tea several 
people dropped in and Carlyle indulged himself in 
a very sarcastic, very entertaining, monologue on 
the beauty and wisdom of silence — beautiful and 
wise in everybody else in his presence. He was 
very gracious to me and warmly invited me to 
visit him every week. At his house, in Chelsea, I 
met, from time to time, several renowned men of 
letters. Mill was sometimes present, and Carlyle 
seemed to delight in aiming at him shafts of ridicule 
against the ''dismal science" of political economy. 
Sometimes Froude would appear, talkative, smirking, 
conceited, glancing around with a look that seemed 



44 A WINDING JOURNEY 

to say: "Are we not the dii maj'oi^es of English 
letters?" Once I met there Herbert Spencer, whose 
intellectual head appeared to me the finest that I 
ever saw. He looked the god from whose brain, 
if cleft, might spring another Athene, clothed in 
light and full armed with wisdom. Mrs. Carlyle 
would have been the greatest woman in England 
if she had not been Carlyle's wife. I witnessed 
many flashes of sarcastic wit between them, but it 
was like the play of sheet-lightning in th^ warm 
evening of summer, not only harmless, but a 
manifestation of affection between two high-strung, 
perhaps over-strung, souls. There was a loving 
something indefinable in it, that Froude could not 
comprehend, still less describe. The mightiest 
genius of our times will easily survive the pre- 
tentious rhetoric, the complacent candor, of the 
fervent defender of Henry VHI. 

No man was more tolerant of contradiction 
than Carlyle. One evening when he began his 
customary monologue on the superiority of silence 
to speech, I boldly interrupted him with a harangue, 
something like the following : 

"Carlyle talking refutes his own doctrine of 
silence. To us his speech is as great as the deeds 
of a hero. We have two eyes, two ears, two feet, 
two hands, and one tongue — doubtless, that we may 
see, hear, walk, and do twice as much as we say; 
yet the organ of speech has its legitimate office 
and must not be cheated out of its single share. 
I grant that we have silly talking in mournful 




THOMAS CARLYLE. 



AROUND THE WOULD. 45 

abundance ; and have we not, also, silly doing, 
moving, hearing, seeing, and the silence of fools? 
As the man is, so will his product be, whether of 
speech or anything else ; his actions will show, and 
his words report, the quality of his soul. The poet 
that sings of Agamemnon's, deeds must share the 
hero's fame. Which was the greater, the philoso- 
phizing Plato, or the governing Pericles? Was the 
doing Hildebrand superior to the singing Dante? 
Was Cromwell, in action, stronger and wiser than 
Shakspeare in talk? The Word created the world, 
and the tongue of a wise man directs the hands of 
t!iousands. Are not the dramas of Goethe equal to 
the campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus? Was not 
the brain of Scaliger as strong as the hand of 
Augustus IL, the Saxon prince, who twisted the 
iron bannister of a stairway into a rope ? From the 
highest talk and action to the lowest, there is an 
infinite gradation, through the good, the instructive, 
the useful, the prudent, the amusing, the exemplary, 
the innocent, the weak, the foolish, the stupid, the 
profane, the conceited, the bigoted, etc. Whoever 
listens to unwise words, and imitates unwise actions, 
thereby receives the adequate punishment of his 
folly. Natural justice is inexorable and exact; it 
was never designed that we should spend a 
single moment in the wholly superfluous work of 
damnation." 

This was only one of the sallies, written down 
shortly afterwards, in a conversational controversy 
that lasted most of the evening. Mrs. Carlyle 



46 A WINDING JOURNEY 

would clap her hands heartily when her husband 
seemed to receive a thrust. An Englishman in 
the company said that the American reminded him 
of the bull attacking a locomotive ; he admired his 
courage, but could not say as much for his dis- 
cretion. Carlyle seemed to enjoy the battle very 
much, and became from that time more cordial with 
me. At the close of the evening he went down to 
the door with me, strolled along the street by my 
side, and waited on the corner till an omnibus came 
along going in the direction of my lodgings. 

Carlyle could laugh more heartily than any man^ 
of high culture whom I ever met. One day we 
were walking from his house, some distance to the 
Athensum Club. On the way we were talking 
of Sir William Hamilton, when he broke out in 
one of his grotesquely picturesque and sarcastic 
harangues against the metaphysicians, who always, 
he said, reminded him of Kilkenny cats. Whereat 
I interjected a phrase from Sartor Resartus, saying 
that he must have found peace when he saw the 
last tail disappear. He turned twice around and 
laughed so loud as to attract the attention of people 
passing in the street. 

Near the close of my sojourn in London, Angus 
Fletcher came to my rooms, grip-sack in hand, and 
ordered me, in his impetuous way, to get ready in 
fifteen minutes, and go with him to Boulogne, to 
see Dickens, and eat a Christmas dinner with him. 
Dickens would be alone and expected both of us, 
for he had written him about it and received a 



AROUND THE WOULD. 47 

favorable answer. Fletcher was a friend of both 
Dickens and his wife, and sometimes was a peace- 
maker between them. There was not time to 
procure the vis^ of the French consul to my pass- 
port, so I could not go. I was especially grieved, 
for an opportunity of seeing the great English 
novelist, the most human and the most humane of 
modern writers, under such favorable circumstances, 
was not likely to recur. In fact, I never had the 
good fortune to meet Dickens. 

Between Christmas and New Year's I left 
London for Paris. My stay there of three months 
had been full of toil as well as pleasure. I had 
translated M. Victor Cousin's "The True, the 
Beautiful, and the Good," as mentioned before, 
which made an octavo volume of goodly dimensions, 
the printers following me day by day as my work 
went rapidly on. An Edinburgh house published 
the book, and proofs were sent me every evening 
by mail. Other literary work was also done during 
the three months. The sights of London were 
seen with the industry of an enthusiastic tourist, 
and much time was devoted to social enjoyment. 
My labor with the pen, during that period, paid 
me at the time and subsequently not less than a 
thousand guineas. I felt grateful to the British 
people, and conceived for London a great liking, 
which has only increased with visits since made. 
London is the metropolis of the world, where 
everything under the sun is to be had by him 
who can pay for it and knows how to find it. 



48 A WINDING JOURNEY. 

I took with me to Paris a letter of introduction 
to Madame Mohl, from my good friend Angus 
Fletcher. That letter was a key to unlock good 
Parisian society. M. Mohl, the husband of Madame 
Mohl, was one of the immortal forty of the French 
Academy. He was a great oriental scholar, whose 
excellent translations from the Persian were pub- 
lished in magnificent volumes by the French govern- 
ment. The salon of Madame Mohl was frequented 
by the scholars and wits of the French metropolis. 
The delivery of my letter was promptly followed 
by a visit from M. Mohl and an invitation. Madame, 
the most caustic, the most brilliant, the homeliest, 
perhaps the most eccentric woman in the high society 
of Paris, received me graciously and extended to me 
an invitation to attend her weekly receptions. She 
was Scotch by birth, but was educated in Paris and 
had always lived there. Madame Mohl was the 
successor to Madame Recamier, and hers may be 
regarded as the last salon of an earlier regime. There 
were assembled weekly a society that despised Louis 
Napoleon, and would not accept his invitations to 
the Tuileries. There I heard the most polished 
women of Europe speak of the Emperor con- 
temptuously as celui-la, that fellow; and sometimes 
of him, as ce songe-la, that monkey. Such words 
may have been reported to him, but he was too 
wise to stir up a tempest in the Faubourg St. 
Germain by arresting accomplished ladies, of noble 
birth, for a personal, and not a political, offense. 
Besides, he was anxious to conciliate the great 



AROUND THE WOULD. 49 

divinities of the French Academy. He was himself 
a recent product of revolutionary France, and had 
no secret tribunal, like the Czar of Russia, as a 
convenient instrumentality for the punishment of 
his personal enemies. 

It is not, however, my purpose to give an 
especial account of Madame Mohl's salon. It was 
described at great length and with interesting 
details, a year or two ago, in several consecutive 
numbers of an American magazine, by Catharine 
O'Meara. I can endorse nearly all that the writer 
says, from personal recollection. 

The only Americans I met there were a Mrs. 
Chapman and her three accomplished daughters, 
from Boston. One of the daughters subsequently 
married Dr. Pantaleone, an Italian, from Rome, 
which greatly incensed Madame Mohl, who hated all 
Italians. She could hardly restrain herself within 
the bounds of social propriety whenever she chanced 
to meet one. For her, they were all canaille. Mrs^ 
Chapman was a very amiable lady and took me 
to see Charpentier, and other famous French pub- 
lishers, with whom she seemed to be on an especially 
good footing. 

Madame Mohl took me to the annual meeting 
of the French Academy, where I saw the immortal 
"forty" in all their glory. They looked like very 
dignified, intelligent gentlemen, most of them 
advanced in years, and more or less gray. The 
handsome face of Guizot was especially striking. 
He looked like a pragmatic pedagogue, with learning 



50 A WINDING JOURNEY 

and brains enough to give a substantial basis to his 
pedantry. M. Villemain was one of the homeHest 
of the lot, but in his rugged face one could read 
the record of an honest scholar and trace the play 
of refined wit. An Hoge was pronounced by some- 
body on somebody ; I have forgotten the names. 
That kind of literature is to me the dreariest that 
France has produced. 

Madame Mohl passed me on to Madame 
Tourgenieff, the elegant and accomplished wife of 
the famous Russian writer. Madame Tourgenieff's 
salon was a center of excellent Parisian and foreign 
literary society. She gave me a standing invitation 
for the season. I had the pleasure of introducing 
to her ex-Governor Seymour, of Connecticut, who 
was passing through Paris, on his way as United 
States minister to St. Petersburg; also Mr. Sanford, 
the accomplished American secretary of legation. 

At the house of Mrs. Chapman I met many 
noted Americans, among others, "Peter Parley" — 
Mr. Goodrich, and his family, who was then consul 
at Paris. His son, Frank, was an especially bright 
young man, with whom I afterwards became asso- 
ciated at New York, in the translation of Balzac. 

M. Cousin, minister of public instruction under 
Louis Philippe, several of whose books I had 
translated, was not in harmony with the government 
of Napoleon III., but was allowed to retain his 
rooms at the Sorbonne, where I visited him every 
Saturday afternoon during my residence in Paris. 
Forgetting his own philosophic doctrine of the inde- 



AROUND THE WOULD. 51 

structibility of national life by change of dynasty, 
a doctrine borrowed from Hegel, he was very 
gloomy and despaired of France. If he could have 
heard again the echo of his own eloquent voice 
in the lecture room of the Sorbonne, he probably 
would have been consoled. His former colleagues, 
MM. Villemain and Guizot, were proscribed like 
himself, but bore their misfortune with more equa- 
nimity. I usually met M. Cousin's accomplished 
and able private secretary, M. Barni, at his rooms. 
M. Barni, sometime afterwards, published at Geneva 
and London twelve lectures, entitled NapoUon et 
son Historien, M. Thiers, which is probably the 
most vigorous piece of destructive criticism in the 
French language, perhaps in all literature. I 
remember him as a quiet, modest gentleman, with 
compact body, large head and intellectual face, 
recalling in several ways Macaulay. 

When I went to take leave of M. Cousin, on 
my return to America, in the spring, he made to 
me a very amusing little speech — amusing to me, 
sincere enough on his part. He kissed me on 
both cheeks, after the French fashion, and said 
among other things : " Do not fall into the great 
tide of materialism in America; persevere in the 
study of spiritualistic philosophy; in short, follow 
the great examples of your distinguished country- 
men, George Washington and Professor Tappan." 

I became acquainted with M. Lamartlne, I 
cannot recall at present how, and frequently visited 
him. His wife was an Englishwoman, of fine 



52 A WINDING JOURNEY 

presence, good looking, sensible, accomplished and 
charming. She was the only balance-wheel that 
the fervid, egotistical, brilliant Frenchman had. 
Madame Mohl told me a good anecdote of 
Lamartine, which I have never seen in print. She 
met him at a social gathering one evening during 
the revolutionary period previous to the coup d'dtat. 
Thinking to compliment him, she said to him: 
"Monsieur Lamartine, we expect soon to see you 
President of the French Republic." He was not 
at all complimented, but drew himself up and 
responded: "No, madame, that honor is reserved 
for Monsieur Victor Hugo ; I am to be President 
of the Universal European Republic." I was 
talking one evening with M. Lamartine and his 
wife, when a page from Le Temps newspaper called 
for promised copy. He had not written a word 
of it. Requesting me to continue my conversation 
with Madame, he seated himself at his writing desk 
and within thirty minutes handed the page a bundle 
of manuscript which made over two columns of 
sprightly reading matter in the newspaper of the 
next morning. As Carlyle said of Sir Walter 
Scott, Lamartine was a great extemporaneous writer. 
Later on, the same evening, appeared a stately 
American woman, in full court costume, on her 
way to a ball at the Tuileries. The object of her 
call was to let the Lamartines, with whom she had 
some acquaintance, see her in a new dress. 

Her husband was Captain Bartlett, of the U. S. 
navy. Captain Bartlett happened to be at Saa 



AHOUND THE WOULD. 53 

Francisco, with his vessel, during the gold fever 
of "'49/' sold out his ship's stores at a fabulous 
price, dropped down the coast to a South American 
port, there replaced his stores at a normal price 
and yielded to the temptation of putting the differ- 
ence in his own pocket; for which he was duly- 
cashiered, but an easy-going, ante-bellum adminis- 
tration broke his fall by giving him some kind of 
a commission to purchase in Paris apparatus for 
light-houses. I had a letter of introduction to 
him from a surgeon in the navy, whom I met at 
Edinburgh. At the Bartlett's elegant apartments, 
on the Champs Elysees, I had met some notable 
people, among others, the Count de Chambord. 
I frequently saw there a very beautiful young 
daughter, still in short dresses and at school, who, 
some years afterwards, married the little swarthy 
Cuban, Oviedo, twice her age, reported to be very 
rich, and thus became the heroine of the once 
famous " diamond wedding," in New York, which 
turned out ill for all concerned. 

At Paris I went to all kinds of balls, from the 
soiries dansantes of ladies in high society, all the 
way down to the orgies of the Jardin d' Hi vers 
and the annual masquerade of the Grand Opera. 
A ball at the Hotel de Ville was the most mag- 
nificent I ever attended. At a ball given by 
M. Pececho, the Spanish ambassador, I saw the 
American minister, who could speak no French, 
who had some conversation with me, with his own 
secretary of legation, with a very beautiful Creole 



54 A WINDING JOURNEY 

lady from New Orleans, and with his host, who 
could speak English. He talked with no others. 
I saw him leaning against the wall, cross-legged, 
near a door, which he partly obstructed. He was 
an able, very worthy gentleman, sadly out of place 
in the diplomatic service, for which he had no 
aptitude, no training. A year or two afterwards 
his daughter, an accomplished young woman, a 
pattern of filial devotion, woke me up one morning, 
at Nice, in Italy, saying that she had just arrived 
with her father, who had had a stroke of palsy, 
who would not go to sleep without some English 
muffins, which the hotel people knew nothing about, 
and asked me in a piteous way, where she could 
find some. I happened to have a servant, the 
English wife of a Swiss courier, who helped her 
to what she wanted. Whether the muffins acted 
as a hypnotic I never learned. 

The first time I visited Pere-la-Chaise was as 
one of the fourteen followers of De Lammennais 
to his grave. After a life of controversy he had 
reached his final rest. He was one of the most 
gifted men in France, but did not succeed, as no 
man has ever succeeded, in making the world believe 
that his own mind was the yard-stick of the universe, 
to measure all things, the Church as well as the 
State. In his last days he had been despondent 
and, I was informed, somewhat reckless. He was 
under the ban of the Church, and some one, I 
have forgotten who, pronounced a funeral oration 
at his sepulture. 



ABOUND THE WOELD. 55 

At the famous Cafe Procope I fortuitously met, 
several times, Leon Gambetta, still a mere youth, 
yet giving presage of the future by his startling 
words, manner and voice. In a long conversation, 
late one morning, over a cup of coffee, he denounced 
the Emperor in the most energetic terms, applying 
to him epithets of the most opprobrious kind. He 
cursed the people of France for submitting to such 
an usurper. I closed the conversation by saying to 
him: "Young man, in due time, Louis Napoleon 
will either hang you or you will dethrone him." 
He smiled happily, and thanked me for thinking so 
highly of him. 

A long essay might be written on the frequenters 
of the Cafe Procope — Voltaire, Piron, Marmontel, 
Rousseau, Sainte Foix, Arago, Gouffroy, and a 
multitude of others, who have made it the most 
famous cafe of France, or the world, but my object 
here is only to recount my own experiences. Picture 
galleries, churches, monuments, theatres, libraries, 
museums, public buildings, historical localities — 
everything important — received my attention, but 
these things have been described many times by 
skilled hands, and I do not allow myself to be 
tempted to turn aside from my special object. Paris 
and London are the most interesting cities of the 
modern world, about which many books have been 
written, but I restrict myself to recalling some 
reminiscences, rather of persons than of things, 
which are only meant to serve as an introduction 
to an account of a journey made long afterwards. 



56 A ■WINDING JOURNEY 

Important business called me unexpectedly home 
in the early spring. I took passage on the ill-fated 
steamship City of Glasgow, but a slight accident 
detained me and the agents of the line changed 
my ticket to the City of Manchester, which sailed 
a few days later. The passage was of eighteen 
days duration, against a fierce battalion of equi- 
noctial gales. The Glasgow was never heard of 
after sailing from Liverpool. Sometimes one's life 
hangs by a slender thread of circumstance, admon- 
ishing us to treat with gravity our smallest actions. 
Whether it would have been better for me to 
have perished with the ship in the great deep, He 
only knows by whom the hairs of our head are 
numbered. 

Thus ended my freshman year in the great 
university of the world. 



AROUND THE WOULD. 57 



CHAPTER II. 

SECOND JOURNEY. 

IN about six weeks I returned to Europe, pre- 
pared for a long sojourn. Again I went over 

Scotland and England, very hurriedly, remaining 
only a week in London before going to the 
Continent. 

I crossed the Channel to Calais, and went 
through Belgium to Cologne, stopping at Ghent, 
Louvain, Brussels and Aachen. Cologne Cathedral 
was not then finished and the view of its exterior 
was much obstructed by the lofty scaffolding around 
the tapering spire. There was first seen the Rhine, 
up which I sailed to Mainz, stopping at the placid 
university town of Bonn, and longer at Coblenz, 
nestling at the mouth of the Moselle, in the 
midst of rocky heights, opposite the Castle of 
Ehrenbneitstein, and not far from Stoltzenfels, 
the fine summer residence of the Prussian kings. 
The banks of the river were terraced far up with 
vineyards of world-wide fame. 

Mainz — Mayence — was then occupied by Austrian 
troops, in the name of the German Confederation. 
From there I went on by railroad to Heidelberg 
and Baden ; thence to Basel, from which I struck 



58 A WINDING JOURNEY 

off through the Jura mountains to Lausanne, in 
Switzerland. The Alps were first seen from the 
heights above Lausanne, looking like a long line 
of heavy clouds, capped with white, and pregnant 
with lightning. The particular spot where Gibbon 
wrote his mighty history, as gre^t in literature as 
the Alps are in nature, was reverently visited. 
From Lausanne I went on, over beautiful Lake 
Leman, to Geneva. One of the first things I did 
there was to make a pilgrimage to Ferney, where 
Voltaire lived so many years, stirring up all Europe 
with a literature abounding in amazing wealth of 
sarcastic denunciation of what he regarded as 
oppression, wrong, inhumanity, error and superstition. 
From Geneva, as a starting point, I went all 
over Switzerland. There was not a single railroad 
in the whole country at that time. Little steamers 
on the numerous lakes afforded pleasant means of 
traveling. I drove in a carriage over almost every 
important road, from the border of France to the 
boundary of the Tyrol, stopping at night in way- 
side inns. It was a far more satisfactory way of 
traveling than hurrying nowadays from town to 
town in a railroad train, and hunting among a tired 
crowd for a place of rest in a great caravansary, 
whose rapacious landlord measures your bill by his 
sharp judgment of your capacity to pay. If one 
wishes to enjoy the incomparable scenery of Switzer- 
land, let him seek out some byway, free from the 
rush and roar of the everlasting army of tourists 
and sight-seers. Thirty years ago one could enjoy 



AROUND THE WORLD 59 

the grand view from the Rhigi or the Col de Furca, 
alone with the reverence and silence of nature, 
without listening to the rattle of the diligence, the 
scream of the locomotive's whistle, or a babel of 
exclamations. The Alpine Club are fortunate in 
possessing stronger legs than the multitude. 

At Geneva I got interested in the study of 
John Calvin's work as a law-giver, as a ruler of 
men, the records of which are found in the archives 
of the cathedral. His book called the " Institutes," 
which I read in the original, which is reckoned 
great by hard-headed theologians, is to me far less 
indicative of genius than his ability to govern in a 
grim theocratic way the rascally Genevese of his 
day, to subject them to discipline, to reduce a 
turbulent and licentious multitude to order and 
decency of living. He made them listen to a 
tongue of fire, that had "a snatch of Tartarus and 
the souls in bale," and shook them over the roaring 
pit with a red hand of iron, till he terrified them 
out of their groveling sins and compelled them to 
obey the eternal law of God. The more I delved 
into the old records, the more I marveled at and 
admired the gifted, fervid Frenchman, who could 
make a beautiful little cosmos out of a morally 
putrescent human chaos. The oft-told story of 
Servetus had terribly prejudiced me against John 
Calvin, but an earnest study of his real work partly 
converted me to the other side. A wandering 
theosophist comes along, preaching not only what 
Calvin regarded as damnable heresy, but proclaiming 



60 A WINDING JOURNEY 

theories of life calculated to subvert the wholesome 
moral order wrought out in the Genevese com- 
munity by their pastor and theocratic ruler. The 
very foundations of the State, as well as of the 
Church, were threatened. Something must be done. 
Nothing occurred to Calvin to do but to follow 
the many examples of his hard age, to put the 
dangerous theosophist on top of a wood-pile and 
burn him up. Emmanuel Swedenborg, in recounting 
one of his visionary journeys to the unseen world, 
says he saw John Calvin in hell, driving a donkey 
in a cart. Whether the ignominious punishment 
was for burning Servetus, Swedenborg does not 
inform us. 

I saw at Geneva only one man of any celebrity. 
M. Merle d'Aubigne, who had written voluminously 
about the Reformation, called on me. He was an 
exceedingly pleasant gentleman, a good talker, but 
his conversation, like his ambitious book, was spiced 
with romance ; not consciously so, but his informa- 
tion was not exhaustive and exact, and he easily 
believed what he wished to be true. 

I was right glad that my craze over John Calvin, 
as an American friend called it, kept me in Switzer- 
land till far into December, for the grand and 
beautiful country is still more grand and beautiful 
in winter than in summer. The crowd of warm 
weather visitors had all gone, and the people were 
seen to far better advantage alone than when 
studying up ways of plucking birds of passage 
from other lands. A drive to Mont Blanc, in a 



AROUND THE WORLD. ' 61 

sleigh, during the shortest days of winter, closed a 
glorious summer and gilded autumn among the 
Alps. 

Leaving the wonder-land, where the eye and the 
imagination wanders among "silver spires, alabaster 
domes, illumination of all gems," I descended the 
valley of the Rhone, through its leafless vineyards, 
duly stopping at Lyons and half sacred Avignon, 
in time to reach Marseille at the beginning of 
unother year. Marseille is an old city, older than 
Paris, founded by the Greeks not long after the 
time when the fabled Romulus and Remus were 
nursed by a female wolf on the site of future 
Rome. 

It was a long journey by diligence from Mar- 
seille to Nice, where I spent the rest of the winter. 
The transition from frozen Switzerland to the warm 
and sunny shore of the Mediterranean was both 
agreeable and wholesome. At Nice I saw ex- 
President Van Buren, then old and rather feeble. 
He retained his usual suavity of manner and foxy 
wariness of speech. The cares of state, or rather 
of crafty politics, had not worn him much ; he was 
approaching his end, simply because he had about 
lived out his allotted days. He was a relative of 
mine, on my mother's side, and proposed to leave 
his political papers in my charge on his death. I 
never heard of his political papers afterwards. He 
returned to America, and lived several years longer. 

On the first day of spring, when the orange- 
trees were in blossom, when the grass was green 



62 • A WINDING JOURNEY 

in the fields, when the roses were blooming in the 
gardens, I left Nice for Turin. The intervening 
mountains were bleak with winter winds, and the 
whole upper valley of the Po was flooded with 
melting snow. It was a poor time to visit the 
interesting capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia. 
I had the good fortune to see Count Cavour, and 
hear him make a speech in the Senate. He spoke 
a little over an hour, with scarcely a gesture, 
standing erect and motionless like a statue, with a 
deep, clear voice, nicely modulated to the space it 
was to fill, his discourse flowing constantly, like a 
strong fountain. He was of medium size, strikingly 
well formed, with features regular as if cut with 
a chisel in marble. He has always seemed to me 
the greatest statesman of our time. It was for- 
tunate for Italy that he lived long enough to lay 
the solid foundation of her unity. 

From Turin I went to Alexandria, and thence 
northward to the terminus of the railroad at a 
little village on the western shore of Lake Maggiore. 
It was raining fearfully on my arrival, and a bitter 
wind was blowing from the great, white, snow-clad 
Alps. At the only inn of the village I enquired 
the price of a room. One always makes such an 
enquiry in Italy, if he is at all prudent. The 
proprietor said it was twenty francs a day, not 
including meals. I told him I would not pay the 
extortionate price. He shrugged his shoulders and 
responded that there was no other hotel in the 
place, and that the train did not return till the 



AEOUND THE WORLD, 63 

next day, at the same time directing attention to 
the driving rain outside. I took my gripsack in 
my hand and walked down to the shore of the 
lake, where I bargained with three fishermen, who 
had a strong boat, to row me to the other side. 
I took the helm and the three stalwart fellows 
rowed bravely through the waves three miles to a 
town on the opposite shore. They hurried away 
on landing, and I was taken in charge by two 
Austrian soldiers, who conducted me, dripping wet, 
before the commandant of the border military post. 
My passport was promptly demanded, which had 
been recently visdd at Turin by the American charge 
d'affairs and the Austrian ambassador. The officer 
was not satisfied with the passport alone, but 
subjected me to a searching cross-examination, 
questioning me by turns in German, English, 
French, and Italian. It happened that I could 
answer him in whatever speech he used. His 
questions were answered promptly and courteously. 
At length I explained to him how I came to cross 
the frontier between Italy and Austrian territory at 
such an inauspicious time. In a sort of apologetic 
way he said that political propagandists resorted to 
any means of entering the country, and that he 
was obliged to obey orders by exercising a sharp 
scrutiny. I responded, a little significantly, that I 
was not an enemy of Austria, especially while in 
Austria, and requested him to send a soldier with 
me to show me to the best hotel. Taking my leave, 
I invited him to call on me at the hotel and drink 



64 A WINDING JOURNEY 

a bottle of wine with me. He sent up his card 
in the evening, and we had a long, pleasant, con- 
versation over a bottle of sparkling d'Asti, during 
which he told me a good deal more about the 
relations of Austria and Italy than his govern- 
ment would have approved. He was an educated, 
intelligent gentleman, and our mutual civility and 
geniality were much more creditable to both of us 
than would have been a strained relationship, easily 
conceivable with a little loss of temper, that might 
have involved our governments in a belligerent 
correspondence. Austria was then very touchy 
towards Aniericans. 

Next day the Italian sun shone out brightly 
and nature smiled sweetly, warmly. I went on to 
Como, Milan, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Venice. 
These cities of Lombardy are among the most 
interesting in Europe ; but, tempting as the subject 
is, I cannot describe them here. They recall the 
tumultuous history of twenty centuries, and still 
contain the monuments and art treasures of many 
vanished generations. Since my first journey there 
they have passed from the dominion of Austria to 
that of united Italy, the land where the "orange 
and the citron bloom," the land "divided by the 
Apennines and surrounded by the sea," as Goethe 
and Pindemonte sang. In a subsequent chapter, I 
shall recur to the subject, in fuller detail. 

One picture, among many that I saw in Venice, 
struck my imagination very vividly and has been 
a mental possession for me ever since ; that was a 



AROUND THE WOELD. 65 

portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, by Titian, in the 
private gallery of the Manfrini palace. Even now, 
after more than thirty years, I can shut my eyes 
and contemplate it in all its exquisite details. 
Afterwards, at Rome, I added to my private gal- 
lery, Domenichino's "Communion of St. Jerome," 
and the "Taking down from the Cross," of Daniele 
da Volterra. Again, at Dresden, I added Raphael's 
"Madonna di San Sisto." This little collection of 
great pictures, hung imperishably in my brain, I 
would not exchange for any gallery in the world. 
In the night, when I cannot sleep, I only have to 
close my eyes firmly in order to see my precious 
pictures, which I expect to carry with me into the 
next world. This may be a species of madness; if 
it is, I prefer it to sanity. 

From Venice I retraced my steps to Milan, took 
another good look at the grand cathedral, and went 
over the Apennines to Genoa. A long ride in a 
diligence, along the enchanting Riviera, brought 
me again to Nice. My journey through all northern 
Italy had been rapidly made, but it had taught me 
many things. _ I began to realize how little travelers 
see, who are not students of history, whose eyes 
have not been unsealed by the great poets and 
painters to the mysterious beauties of nature. The 
soul of the world reveals something of itself to 
the seer, only a shadowy little of which can he 
convey to others by means of color, form, or winged 
words. 

From Nice I went back over the Riviera, in a 
5 



66 A WINDING JOUENEY 

carriage, slowly, driving only by day, so as not to 
miss a single mile of the lovely views over moun- 
tain, rocky shore, and sunlit sea. Genoa was more 
carefully inspected than before. I drove on to 
Spezia, to Lucca, to Pisa. At Pisa, the frescoes 
of Ghirlandaio, in the Campo Santo, were infinitely 
more interesting to me than the famous Leaning 
Tower. 

The air was becoming hot with the sun and I 
went up to the Bagni de Lucca, in the Apennines, 
to spend the summer. At the Baths of Lucca was 
then the summer residence of the Tuscan Court. 
Consequently the place was much frequented in 
the hot season. It was a lovely spot, in a deep 
mountain valley, by a rapid little river, whose 
singing waters were clear as crystal ; in the midst 
of interminable soft-green groves of chestnuts, 
which furnished shade and food for the poor 
people. There I devoted several months, under a 
good master, to a critical study of the beautiful 
Italian language, which I could already speak and 
read tolerably well. All went merry as a marriage- 
bell, till the cholera came in August. I saw 
terrified Italians lie down on the grass by the 
roadside and die with it in half an hour. Friends, 
whom one saw well at evening, were dead with 
it in the mornine. Two or three thousand summer 
visitors fled ; no one seemed to know whither. In 
Florence, fifty miles away, over fifteen per cent, of 
the population perished with the pestilence. I went 
with the brave good parish priest, day after day. 



AROUND THE WORLD. , 67 

to visit his dying people. By-and-by, I, too, had 
the disease. My friend, the priest, came to see 
me and offer the consolations of religion. '* Do 
you think, good father," I said to him, " if I were 
to die now, God would damn me?" He looked 
at me pathetically, and reponded : "I don't know; 
I know I would not ; and God is better than I am." 

However, I survived, and went down to Leghorn 
in early autumn, to take sea baths, which had been 
recommended for the debilitating effects of the 
disease. From there I went to Florence, and spent 
two glorious months in the study of art. 

From Florence I drove slowly to Rome, by 
the way of Perugia. Along every mile of the 
way, skirting the Apennines, I saw pictures more 
beautiful than any adornmg the walls of the gal- 
leries in Florence. In Florence, however, I first 
learned to appreciate sculpture. It is wonderful 
how much man can tell his fellow-man by exquisite 
forms cut in marble. Beauty, too, which no 
language can define, has an objective reality, quite 
as apparent in sculpture as in painting, poetry or 
nature. Music is a world apart, but I do not 
propose to enter here a temple not built with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. The great musicians 
are only the doorkeepers in this house of the Lord. 
How vibrations in the air can get through the ear 
to become joy or worship in the soul, is a mystery 
that may be felt, but cannot be explained. 

It is impossible to describe one's feelings at the 
fijst sight of Rome. The "eternal city" is the 



68 A WINDING JOURNEY 

center of the world. All history revolves around 
it. A complete history of Rome is a history of 
mankind. In this rapid sketch I can only describe 
a few of my own experiences. I remained there 
till the close of Holy Week, industriously devoting 
every day, for many months, to a study of Rome's 
ruins, antiquities, museums, churches, and treasures 
of art. The vastness of Rome at first discouraged 
me, but working like the elements, "making no 
haste, taking no rest," added little by little to my 
conquest of knowledge. 

Rome did for me in architecture what Florence 
had done for me in sculpture. With the help 
of Cannina's superb drawings I reconstructed, in 
imagination, all the important buildings of ancient 
Rome, out of their ruins. The dull details of the 
guide-book, bewildering and stupefying when studied 
alone, afforded clews that led up to fruitful results 
when followed with the aid of books of real genius. 
Dead ruins seemed to stir with life when viewed in 
the light shed on them by Goethe, and miscellaneous 
miles of broken marble figures in the Vatican 
seemed to have a resurrection when breathed upon 
by the spirit of Winckelmann. But it is not my 
business to describe here the Colosseum or St. 
Peter's, the Column of Trajan, or the Catacombs. 
Books descriptive of Rome already exist in great 
abundance, and I must not linger too long in the 
midst of personal reminiscences, designed only to 
serve as an introduction to an account of my 
recent journey round the world. 




POPE PIO NONO. 



AROUND THE WORLD- 69 

There were at Rome many eminent artists, who 
were very polite to travelers, among whom I formed 
several very pleasant acquaintances. Their society 
was especially useful to a student who was not 
contented with mere guide-book information. 

At Rome I made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Lowell, already famous as a man of letters. I 
took him with me to visit the Prince Torlonia, in 
whose library we spent several hours looking over 
a curious collection of Roman newspapers and 
political handbills, made during the recent revolu- 
tion. I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. 
Lowell and his sister, Mrs. Putnam, who had 
written a very able article, in the North American 
Review, on Hungary, which attracted a great deal 
of attention at the time. While at dinner the card 
of Mr. Cass, the American minister, was brought 
in. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam excused themselves, in 
order to meet him in the reception room. They 
soon returned in a state of high indignation. Mr. 
Cass had sent up his card from his carriage, without 
following it in person. The American minister 
gave me occasion afterwards to sharply rebuke him 
for such supercilious treatment of distinguished 
people from his own country. He laid the matter 
very much to heart and endeavored to conciliate 
me by issuing to me a special passport, as bearer 
of despatches from the American Legation at 
Rome to the American Legation at Vienna. The 
document was subsequently of some use to 
me in the way of preventing examination of my 



70 , A WINDING JOURNEY 

baggage, by custom-house officers, at various 
frontiers. 

At Rome I met ex-President Fillmore, who 
was socially a very pleasant gentleman. He spent 
the evening before his departure at my rooms, 
remaining till the small hours of the morning. A 
convention at Baltimore had just nominated him 
as the candidate of the American Party for Presi- 
dent. Notwithstanding his long political experience, 
he really believed that his chances of election were 
gogd. I advised him, as a personal, not political, 
friend, to keep his mouth reasonably well closed 
on his arrival home. He soon forgot the admonition 
in his suicidal Albany speech. 

From Rome I went to Naples, rapidly, with 
post-horses. There I remained several weeks, 
making excursions to all points of interest in the 
neighborhood. In strange contrast with the squalid 
city was the scenery, which, is not surpassed in all 
the world for magnificence and beauty. One 
excursion to Sicily lasted ten days. I landed at 
Palermo, crossed the island with post-horses, round 
the base of Mount Etna, to Catania, and thence 
along the ravishing shore of the sea to Messina. 
I think the view at Taormina was the loveliest that 
I have ever seen. From Messina I crossed over 
to Reggio, the southernmost city of Italy, from 
whose orange groves the view, at morning and 
evening, along the eastern shore of Sicily, with 
smoking Mount Etna in the distance, was enchanting 
as one's dreams of paradise. At Reggio I embarked 




sfvV?5C%^ V*.S' 



GRAND CANAL AT VENICE. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 71 

on a dirty little Neapolitan steamer, which stopped 
at every port on the Calabrian coast, on the way 
to Naples, for the purpose of picking up conscripts 
for King Bomba's army. The pleasure of seeing 
a coast, three hundred miles long, almost as beautiful 
as the Bay of Naples, rarely visited by travelers, 
compensated me for the garlic smells and extreme 
discomfort of the ship. 

At Naples I met, among others, the American 
minister, Robert Dale Owen, a cultivated, vivacious, 
agreeable gentleman. I had seen his father, the 
enthusiastic reformer, in his old age, during my 
first visit to London. The aged hero of New 
Lanark had lived all his life an atheist, but the 
Mrs. Hayden, of whom I have already spoken, 
had restored for him God to the universe and the 
soul to man, by rapping on a table in her mystic 
cabinet. Robert Dale Owen, finally, many years 
afterwards, went clean daft in his unquestioning 
devotion to ''spirits" that revisit "the glimpses of 
the moon." 

The sun was mounting the heavens and I 
hastened northward with post-horses, through Rome, 
Sienna, Florence, Bologna, Modena, Parma, and 
Mantua, to Verona. At that point I turned off 
and again visited Venice. Returning westward to 
the lower end of Lago di Garda, I took a boat 
and sailed sixty miles into the bosom of the Alps, 
then resumed my post horses and went to Trent, 
famous in ecclesiastical history ; thence to Botzen, 
where I turned off through a long, circuitous, 



72 A WINDING JOURNEY 

magnificent mountain valley, famed for delightful 
Tyrolese towns and the scenes of Hofer's heroism, 
finally coming out at Innsbruck. 

At Mais, on the way, I engaged of an innkeeper 
a suitable vehicle and went over the Stelvio Pass 
to the Baths of Bormio, in Italy. It is the highest 
road in Europe, thirty-five miles long, built by the 
Austrian government, for military purposes, at a 
cost of thirty-five millions of florins. The vast 
Oertler glacier, the grandest in all the Alps, was 
seen from all points of view, while ascending the 
mighty mountain, in places steep as a house-roof, 
by a series of zigzags made with engineering skill. 
If you can imagine Niagara Falls to be twenty 
times higher, several times wider, many times vaster 
in every way, and to be suddenly frozen solid, you 
can form some conception of the Oertler glacier. 
Human speech cannot describe the grandeur of 
the view from the top of the Pass. On the Italian 
side, slender, rocky mountain spires, ice-clad in all 
their depressed inter-spaces, looked like a city of 
cathedrals in the sky, extending on either hand as 
far as the eye could reach. With a good glass, 
one could see the marble dome of Milan Cathedral 
and the waters of the Mediterranean flashing in 
the southern sun. In strange contrast, the forests 
of the Tyrolese side presented an interminable sea 
of softest green, broken here and there by cleared 
spaces with their villages, like irregular patches of 
gold set in emerald. 

My driver proved to be a drunkard. He nursed 



AROUND THE WORLD. 73 

a black bottle all the way up the mountain, and 
when we reached the summit he was not in a 
condition to guide his horses along a precipice 
more than fifteen hundred feet plumb down. 
Neither would he give up the reins to me. The 
only alternative was to pitch him out into the 
snow and drive myself. I drove down on the 
Italian side till I reached the first Austrian military 
station, three miles below, where my experience was 
very like that already described, on crossing Lago 
Maggiore. The enraged driver came up on foot 
while I was drinking a bottle of wine with the 
commandant of the station. At my request he was 
locked up in the guard-house, on bread and water, 
and the polite Austrian ofificer detailed a soldier 
to drive me down to Bormio. The next morning, 
on my return, the fellow was let out, quite sober 
and very penitent. He drove me back to Mais, 
without further mishap. 

The journey of two days over the Stelvio and 
back was an episode of the long journey from 
Botzen to Innsbruck. 

From Innsbruck I went on to Salzburg, through 
a region both picturesque and famous for its exten- 
sive salt works. The cathedral bells chimed forth, 
every quarter of an hour, a snatch of Mozart's 
lyric music, as if welcoming me and inviting me 
to tarry. 

It was not far to Ischl, in Upper Austria, where 
the imperial court was already assembled in summer. 
I remained there till the beginning of autumn. 



74 A WINDING JOURNEY 

making delightful excursions, far and wide, among 
the Styrian Alps. In one of these excursions I 
fell upon the Austrian Emperor and his suite of 
jagers. We took a mid-day meal In a mountain 
Inn, at a common table. It was the custom of the 
dull host to collect a florin from each guest during 
the meal. The good-natured Emperor handed a 
florin over his shoulder, remarking : " I suppose 
I must pay here like the rest." The handsome 
Empress, an excellent horsewoman, looked very 
gay with her attendants, as the shadows began 
to stretch themselves across the picturesque roads 
in the after part of the day. Ischl Is really one 
of the most charming summer resorts in all Europe. 

As summer ended I went back to Salzburg, 
thence by Konigsee, the pearl of lakes, set In lofty 
mountains, and Rosenheim, to Munich (Munchen), 
where I remained a fortnight to study the products 
of the new school of Bavarian art. It amused me 
very much to see in a fresco, on the wall of a 
recently built church, the devil painted with the 
head of Goethe. The great German poet will 
live long after frescoes and church have crumbled 
Into dust. It is not worth while to lose temper 
over such impotent attempts to defame immortal 
genius. 

At Augsburg I spent a couple of days with the 
best connoisseur of wine in all Europe, who kept 
an excellent hotel In the ancient palace of the 
Fuggers, the Rothschilds of the middle ages. He 
was an excellent classical scholar, and had searched 



AROUND THE WORLD. 75 

through the poets of antiquity for apt passages 
to quote in his wine Hst, which made a thick 
pamphlet. 

I then went to Donauwerth, the head of navi- 
gation on the Danube, and embarked for Ratisbon 
(Regensberg). At that superb old city I remained 
several days, to inspect the best preserved torture 
chamber in Germany, and to study King Louis's 
Walhalla, which is an exact reproduction of the 
Parthenon. One essential thing was wanting, to-wit, 
the clear sky, the "pellucid air," of Greece. Long 
afterwards, when among the ruins of the Acropolis 
at Athens I was trying to reconstruct the Par- 
thenon, in imagination, a clear memory of the 
Walhalla served me well. 

Down the beautiful "blue" Danube I went to 
gay Vienna, passing castles and dorfs, vineyards 
loaded with purple grapes, and convents crowning 
the wooded hills, in the midst of scenery surpassing 
that of the Rhine. The high society of Vienna 
is the coyest of any capital in Europe. At Rome 
I had been a guest at receptions and balls in 
princely houses, but at Vienna I received but one 
invitation. The Congress of Scientists, from all 
parts of the world, held a meeting that year in the 
Austrian capital. Count Thun, the minister of 
public instruction, gave a great ball in honor of 
the congress. I was present and saw the elite of 
scientific Europe, as well as many of the Austrian 
nobles. The Emperor and Empress appeared for 
a few minutes. 



76 A WINDING JOURNEY 

It is not a part of my plan to describe Vienna 
here. The elder Strauss, a small jumping frog of 
a man, animated to his finger ends with the spirit 
of lively music, was then living, and I went often 
to hear his well-trained band play in the open air. 
The cathedral of St. Stephen's, the great park of 
the Prater, and the beautiful suburbs, received the 
attention of an enthusiastic tourist. All Vienna 
seemed to dance every night in the great beer 
halls, some of which ran far and wide under- 
ground, beneath the streets. 

From Vienna I went on down the swift-flowing 
Danube to Buda-Pesth, in Hungary. There I saw 
the Emperor Franz Joseph, and his brother, 
Maximillian, who subsequently met his fate in 
Mexico under the auspices of Louis Napoleon, 
disembark from the royal yacht and drive up the 
long hill to the castle of Buda. The two, sitting 
side by side, drove in an open barouche, without 
guards or attendants. The multitude Avas so dense 
that they frequently crowded persons in front 
between the wheels of the barouche, when the 
attentively observing monarch would touch ' the 
coachman with a light bamboo cane, as a signal 
to stop, till the unfortunates could extricate them- 
selves. There was not, at that time, another 
sovereign in all Europe who would have thus 
trusted himself to his own people. And that, too, 
was not very long after the great Hungarian revo- 
lution. The young men were brave, and the high- 
strung Hungarians would not disgrace themselves 



AROUND THE WORLD. 77 

by touching a hair of the undefended Emperor's 
head, ahhough at heart they might have hated 
him. 

I took with me to Hungary Mr. Olmsted, of 
Hartford, father of the well known landscape 
architect, and his two daughters, whom I had met 
at Rome. At that time it was necessary to obtain 
a special permit to visit Hungary, from the Austrian 
police department at Vienna, in exchange for which 
one's regular passport was deposited. Mr. Olmsted's 
name had been found among the papers of Brace, 
who had been arrested in Hungary a year or two 
previously for violating some Austrian police regu- 
lation. The affair led to sharp correspondence 
between the governments of Vienna and Washing- 
ton. For that reason the police authorities refused 
Mr. Olmsted a permit, although his passport was 
perfectly regular. I interceded in his behalf, and 
explained that the only offense of Mr. Olmsted 
was having innocently lent some money to his 
townsman. Brace. Still the obstinate head of police 
was inexorable ; yet, in consideration of my good 
record in crossing the Austrian frontier under 
especially trying circumstances, he would insert 
Mr. Olmsted's name in my permit. If I would be 
personally responsible for him. All this seemed 
very ridiculous to an American, but it was the only 
way In which my friend could go to Hungary. 

From Buda-Pesth I retraced my steps to Vienna, 
and went on, by the way of Prague and the Saxon 
Switzerland, to Dresden. On the way I responded 



78 A WINDING JOURNEY 

to a masonic sign from a Turkish gentleman, who 
proved to be the finance minister of the Suhan, 
going to Berhn, on some special business of his 
government. He was an exceedingly polished gen- 
tleman, well-informed, with the characteristically 
unimpassioned manner of all high-bred orientals. 
My training with Bell, and his financial friends at 
London, had prepared me for engaging in con- 
versation with the Turkish official on his especial 
topic. 

A Russian professor and his wife, from Moscow, 
who had been to the Scientific Congress at Vienna, 
entertained me, on the same journey, with an 
exceedingly intelligent and interesting account of 
the progress of university education in their own 
country. The lady, who was very handsome, very 
bright, very brilliant in conversation, was a female 
Thersites, a compound of hornet stings. Her 
sarcasm was exhaustless. She seemed to be enjoying 
a holiday from the silence imposed by the atmosphere 
of her own country, and indulged herself in caustic 
criticisms of everybody and everything, much to 
the terror and discomfort of her husband. Con- 
ventional politeness did not restrain her polished, 
envenomed tongue towards an interlocutor. Looking 
me in the eye, she said in faultless French : " I 
have traveled in all civilized lands and have never 
found gentlemen except among the Russians." 
Imitating the self-poise of my Turkish acquaintance, 
I responded serenely: "I, too, have traveled in all 
civilized lands and have everywhere found ladies 



AROUND THE WOULD. 79 

except among the Russians." Her husband looked 
furtively grateful, and the conversation went on as 
though nothing had happened. 

I remained at Dresden several days and then 
went to Berlin. Things of interest were there seen 
and an excursion made to Potsdam. The climate 
of Berlin seemed to me damp, cold and harsh, and 
I remained there only a fortnight. Besides, the 
general social atmosphere of the Prussian capital 
was chilly and repulsive, like the climate itself. I 
went back to Dresden and took rooms at a hotel 
for the winter. 

At the outset I procured a proper master and 
entered upon a systematic study of the German 
language, although I could read it very well and 
speak it with tolerable fluency already. The society 
of Dresden was charming, and its rich picture gal- 
lery was constantly attractive. The theatre, taken 
all in all, was then the" best in Germany. The best 
plays of Shakspeare, in Schlegel and Tieck's excel- 
lent translation, with such actors as Davidson and 
Devrienne, were put upon the stage thoughtfully and 
well. The interpretation of Shakspeare by Gervinus, 
the best critic of the great dramatist in any language, 
was carefully studied. Every presentation of a play 
threw new light upon it from the highest intellectual 
standpoint. The best dramas of Schiller and Goethe 
were put upon the stage, to the satisfaction of very 
exacting audiences. 

At Dresden I had opportunity to hear the 
earlier operas of Gliick and others. Elsewhere I 



80 A WINDING JOTJENEY 

had heard the best later operas rendered by the 
greatest singers of Europe. The symphonie con- 
certs of Dresden, to which one could get access 
only by formal invitation, were the finest in the 
world. At one of these concerts Jenny Lind 
appeared, whom the royal family went forward 
from the audience to personally greet. I met 
Jenny Lind there again, whom I had known quite 
well in America, having been introduced to her 
by Mr. Barnum, who, by the way, is much more 
than the successful showman to those having the 
honor of his intimate acquaintance. 

At Dresden I met Berthold Auerbach, the well- 
known German novelist. He was a very genial 
gentleman, short, rather stout, with a decided 
Hebrew nose, to which race he belonged. He read 
poetry with fine interpretation of voice and manner. 
At my rooms he read to me Goethe's lyric poetry 
by the hour, bringing out the latent meaning with 
extraordinary elocutionary skill. His wife was a 
Vienna lady, of the same race, fine-looking, even 
handsome, with a rather saltpeterish temper. One 
day they were driving with me in the Grosser 
Garten, the great park of Dresden, when a sudden 
quarrel broke out between them, with a sharp 
fusilade of Hebrew words, which I did not under- 
stand. Auerbach asked me to stop the carriage, 
which I did, and he jumped out, slammed the door 
to behind him, and ordered the coachman to drive 
on. The situation was embarrassing. I stopped 
the carriage again, got out myself, and ascended the 



AROUND THE WORLD. 81 

box with the coachman. I left madame at her 
house with a very formal salutation, and drove 
home. When I met Auerbach again he was just 
as cordial as though no such episode had taken 
place. 

I met, at Dresden, Rietschel, the eminent German 
sculptor. He was a large, bony man, with rugged 
face, rather taciturn, with the dreamy, far-off look 
of genius in his sunken eyes. Through Auerbach^ 
he offered to present me with my bust, if I would 
procure for him a proper block of Carrara marble. 
I did not wish to rest under a heavy obligation to 
him, and did not feel able to give him a suitable 
present, costing a thousand dollars, in return, and 
therefore regretfully declined his generous offer. 
He was the first sculptor in Germany. 

The house of the Frau von Brantenstein was 
the center of all that was best in the intellectual 
German society of Dresden. I frequently met 
there the Baron von Ronne, who had been eighteen 
years Prussian ambassador at Washington, who had 
sought the Saxon capital as a pleasant residence 
on retiring from the diplomatic service. Always 
with him were his accomplished daughters, fair 
specimens of the quiet, cultivated, refined, unobtru- 
sive German young ladies of the noble class. 
Always there was Dr. Karl Andre, formerly editor 
of the Kolnische Zeitung, then one of the writers 
on the Allgemeine Zeitung, who frequently enter- 
tained the company by reading a skilled summary 
of some remarkable English book, prepared for 



82 A WINDING JOURNEY 

his journal. The husband of Frau von Brantenstein 
was rich, rather dull, and quite irascible. The 
bloods of Dresden, for the amusement of the com- 
pany, would sometimes start a discussion with him, 
pretend to get vexed at being worsted in the 
argument, and call him a Kalbkopf (a calf-head), 
in order to provoke him to a comic exhibition of 
his wrath. On one occasion he .lost temper to the 
extent of seizing a carving-knife, when madame 
was obliged to interfere, pointing out to him the 
terrible consequences of shedding the blood of a 
guest in his own house. After this, I believe, the 
little comedy was not reenacted. 

The English and American residents of Dresden 
came near being disgraced by a duel. Morris 
Moore, a wandering correspondent and art critic 
of the London Times, brought to me a letter of 
introduction ; I have now forgotten from whom. 
He was a man of marked ability and of very 
pugnacious temper. I showed him especial attention 
and became rather intimate with him. Sir Arthur 
Shea, President of the Academy at London, was 
spending the winter at Dresden, with his family. 
He and Morris Moore got into a controversy, in 
the Times, about some picture. The controversy- 
became personal and led to a quarrel. They deter- 
mined to fight a duel over it. Morris Moore 
applied to me to be his second. Sir Arthur Shea 
applied to a friend of mine, from Boston. They 
thought that we, being Americans, would know all 
about the code. ,We were both Northern men and 



AHOIWD THE WOULD. 83 

neither of us had ever smelled social gunpowder. 
We conferred together and determined to prevent 
a meeting. It was represented to Morris Moore 
that his art criticisms in the Times were regarded 
as a finaHty by the whole British public, which it 
would be absurd to attempt to make more certain 
by an interchange of shots with any presumptive 
disputant. It was represented to Sir Arthur Shea 
that his antagonist had a murderous temper and 
was a fatal shot; that he had no right to run the 
risk of leaving his beautiful and all-accomplished 
wife and daughters to mourn his possibly untimely 
fate. The belligerents cooled off some, and while 
we failed to effect a reconciliation we succeeded in 
bringing about a permanent truce. 

Bayard Taylor and Alexander Ziegler called on 
me at Dresden, and pressingly invited me to go 
with them to Berlin, for the purpose of visiting 
Humboldt. It would have delighted me to see the 
venerable and renowned scientist, but I had lately 
been to Berlin and had no appetite to go there 
again at that time. I sympathized heartily with the 
London Times, in its ridicule of some testy English- 
man who complained of having been sent away 
from Berlin by the police ; " if he had been 
detained in Berlin by the police, then he would 
have had just ground of complaint." So I excused 
myself. They went, and came back delighted with 
their visit. Bayard Taylor, especially, could not 
talk of anything but Humboldt. On his return 
home he wrote magazine articles about Humboldt, 



84 A WINDING JOURNEY 

and lectured on the subject of Humboldt all over 
the country. By-and-by Humboldt died and his 
diary was published. At the date of Taylor's visit 
was a ruthlessly sarcastic entry about the American 
traveler, who had gone so far about the world to 
see so little, evidently written on purpose to enjoy 
the secret luxury of making a caustic antithesis. 
From that time Taylor ceased to write and lecture 
about Humboldt, and got laughed at a great deal 
by malicious paragraphists at home. But it did 
not hurt him at all. No man of merit can be 
hurt in that way, though his feelings may be 
wounded by the injustice. Taylor lived to be sent 
as American minister to Berlin, where he was 
received with more consideration than was due to 
the representative of another government. 

In the spring I received a letter from Mr. 
Bentley, the well known London publisher, announ- 
cing that a manuscript book, which I had sent him, 
had been accepted, and requesting me to come to 
London and superintend its publication. The book 
had been written at odd hours during my travels. 
I started immediately, but lingered by the way at 
Leipsig, Hanover, and Dusseldorf. I was in London 
six weeks, in May and June, at the height of the 
season, but was too busy to visit anybody, except 
occasionally the Carlyles. I went, however, fre- 
quently to hear the debates in Parliament. A 
respectful note, addressed to some prominent noble 
lord or distinguished member, sent by mail in the 
morning, was almost sure to bring a response 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 85 

the same evening, usually by a page, containing 
the desired ticket of admission. My book, pub- 
lished anonymously In two volumes, was reasonably 
successful. Only a few trusted friends know the 
authorship of It to this day. 

From London I went to France, made the 
tour of Normandy, then hastened to Paris. I 
remained there till late in autumn. One of the 
memorable sights In Paris was a grand review of 
the veteran French army, on Its return from the 
Crimean war. Of one regiment, only three soldiers 
survived, who marched In their places, with wide 
intervals, indicating by the vacant spaces the 
everlastingly absent. I was near the Emperor 
and saw the tears roll down his cheeks at the 
pathetic sight. 

After the leaves had fallen, I returned to 
America. My last absence had been nearly four 
years. My pleasant Wanderjahre were ended, and 
before me was an unknown future of toil. 




NON EXIT. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

OVER THE SEA. IMPROVED OCEAN NAVIGATION. 

^ARLY in the spring of 1887, after an interval 
—A of many years, I sailed eastward from New 
♦ York, determined to realize a long cherished 
desire of making a journey round the world. The 
steady, stately, defiant movement of the great 
steamship, out upon the stormy Atlantic, led to 
many reflections on the discoveries and inventions 
of man, on the gradual ascendancy of mind over 
matter. 

Man discovers, but does not create. The mere 
discovery is, in a certain sense, new, but the 
thing discovered has existed from the beginning 
of creation. For example, our chemistry is recent, 
but its facts are as ancient as the universe of 
matter. Our knowledge of affinities dates back 
only a century and a half to Geoffrey ; our know- 
ledge of the relations of heat and light, back to 
Boerhaave ; our knowledge of gases, back to Hales 
and Black; of oxygen, scarcely a century, to 
Priestly ; of chlorine, to Scheele ; of combining 
proportion, to Kloproth and Dalton ; of electro- 
chemical laws, to Berzelius ; but all of these things, 
and many others still undiscovered, are as old as 



90 A "WINDINa JOURNEY 

the material universe that was created according 
to "weight and measure." 

The first savage who pried up a stone practi- 
cally demonstrated, yet in utter ignorance, the old 
law that was made new to human knowledge by 
the intellect of Archimedes. When Ajax hurled 
a ''rock's vast weight," the missile obeyed in its 
flight a law as ancient as the earth, a law that 
was first' construed to thought in the later ages 
by Torricelli, Pascal, and Wallis. The primary 
mechanical principles that rule the motion of the 
planets did not spring into existence with the pub- 
lication of Newton's Principia. The principle of 
"varying action" was just as true when Eve 
plucked the forbidden fruit as when Sir W. R. 
Hamilton, in our times, deciphered it and trans- 
lated it into modern science. The same meteoro- 
logical laws that the simultaneous observations of 
many patient men, in different parts of the world, 
are now elaborating, ruled the evening breeze 
that sighed through the cedars of Lebanon and 
governed the winds that swept over Salamis and 
scattered the fleet of Xerxes. Werner's science 
of minerals did not change the properties of iron, 
and gold, and quicksilver. It was not the Abbe 
Hauy, the founder and perfecter of crystalography, 
who made salt and platinum crystalize in hexahe- 
drons, alum and the diamond in octahedrons. The 
succession of the strata of the earth was just the 
same in the days of Pythagoras and Aristotle as 
when Murchison and Lyell had completed grouping 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 91 

them In chronological order. The beautiful limbs 
of. Helen looked crooked in the bath, according 
to the old optical law of refraction, which the 
world waited many ages for Snell to discover. It 
was only the other da}^ that Leverier, by niathe- 
matical calculation, weighed an unknown planet, in 
an unknown region of space, measured its orbit, 
arranged a meeting with it in the heavens, turned 
his telescope thither at the appointed time and 
place, and discovered it at the precise moment ; 
yet the planet and the laws whereby it was dis- 
covered date from the time when the Almighty 
created the earth and the stars. It was not the 
tap of Galileo's foot that set the world turning on 
its axis. It was not the science of Copernicus 
that started the planets on their journey round 
the sun. The lily of the valley, when described by 
the Redeemer as toiling not, spinning not, yet 
robed with a glory beyond tha,t of Solomon, 
bloomed just as sweetly, followed the same laws 
in its growth as when Linnaeus classified plants 
and the Jussieus pointed out their natural affinities. 
The Creator, when he walked in the Garden at 
the cool of evening, was a better botanist than 
Von Mohl, or Schleiden, or Gray. When swift 
Achilles leaped and ran he used the muscles, bones 
and nerves first described in the modern science 
of anatomy. Bichat and Claude Bernard have 
only discovered the physiological functions that 
are as old as organized beings. The sculptor only 
translates into marble the old forms furnished to 



92 A WINDING JOURNEY 

his hand by nature. The best paintings are but 
shadowy transcripts on canvas of pictures made by 
Him who hung the rainbow in the sky and fore- 
ordained the scenes of real Hfe. The newest piece 
of architecture, both in its materials and the laws 
of its structure, is as old as the world. The juris- 
prudence of the Romans and the Common Law of 
England are nothing more than the shadows of 
the Eternal Justice. Plato and Kant only described 
the laws of mind according to which the first 
man reasoned in Paradise. The Gospel of Christ 
was as old as the Maker of heaven and earth : 
"The Word was in the beginning with God." 
Omniscient wisdom could forecast the oak in the 
acorn, and the whole history of the race in the 
physical and mental organization of the first pair. 
Electricity was ready to become the swift mes- 
senger of mankind long before Benjamin Franklin 
conducted it from sky to earth by tiying his kite 
in the clouds. Just so far as man discovers and 
applies to his own needs the forces of the universe, 
he enters into partnership with the Creator, becomes 
a god, "knowing good and evil." 

And water existed in solid, liquid, and gaseous 
form, long before the fact became known to 
mortals. Fire blazed In the sun, flashed in the 
lightning, and flamed from the volcano, ages before 
Prometheus revealed It to men. He who first 
threw water on a heated stone, had before his 
sealed eyes the problem of steam as a medium of 
mechanical force. Mankind knew how to chain 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 93 

Prometheus, but it was long ere they learned how 
to chain the mightiest product of his priceless gift. 
Ages passed away before the sons of earth dis- 
covered the uses of iron. The carbon generated 
by the sun was buried deep in earth during count- 
less years, before the slow process of evolution 
brought the non-human primate to perceive its use 
as fuel. "Art is long, but time is fleeting," and it 
was more than sixteen centuries after Hero, who 
produced rotary motion by causing steam to issue 
from orifices, when the Spaniard, Blasco de Garay, 
showed a steamboat in the harbor of Barcelona. 
At Nuremberg, in 1562, the preacher Mathesius 
prayed for a man who "raised water by fire and 
air." It is only a little more than a century since 
the steam-engine became a serviceable instrument 
in the hands of Watt. Men fooled away thirty 
years more of precious time, till 1807, when Robert 
Fulton made his first voyage, in trying to propel 
boats by the application of steam to oars, although 
even the Romans knew how to turn paddle-wheels 
with oxen and horses. Just half a century ago, 
the Sirius, from Cork, and the Great Western, from 
Bristol, made the first voyages to New York, the 
former in nineteen, the latter in fifteen days. That 
was the beginning of steam navigation on the 
ocean. Only fifteen years later I crossed the 
Atlantic in a paddle-wheel steamer. It was a 
long way from the steamboat of Blasco de Garay, 
propelled on the principle of Hero's ^lopile, to 
the Clermont of Robert Fulton, with which he 



94 A WINDING JOURNEY 

sailed from New York to Albany; a long way 
from the Clermont to the Great Western; a long 
way from the Great Western to the Niagara, in 
which I crossed the Atlantic in 1853; ^^^ again 
a long way from the Niagara to the Trave, in 
which I crossed in 1887. For the interesting his- 
tory of the transition the reader will have to seek 
elsewhere. 

It must not be forgotten that steam is not a 
motor-power. The real force is heat generated by 
combustion of coal, or of other fuel. The steam, 
or water in the form of vapor, is only the medium 
througfh which the real force is transmitted. It is 
more convenient, more economic in use, than air, 
or some other gas. The boilers, the engines, the 
various kinds of apparatus, are only the means of 
controlling and distributing steam, the vehicle for 
conveying the heat, the real motor, to the proper 
point for propelling the ship. In the beginning 
there was enormous waste of heat, the real 
motor-power, by reason of the imperfection of 
the machinery. In 1830, it required the combus- 
tion of nine pounds of coal per horse-power, to 
propel a ship one mile. Now a pound and a half 
of coal will do the same work. 

In the steamships of to-day the heat, generated 
by the combustion of coal, does many other things 
besides propelling the boat. Conveyed by the 
proper apparatus of iron or steel, it enables the 
officer in charge to steer the ship, simply by 
turning a crank with one hand. The power, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 95 

quickly and easily applied to a dynamo, generates 
electricity with which the floating palace is lighted, 
like day, from end to end. It distils wholesome 
fresh water from the brine of the sea. It loads 
and unloads the ship. It maintains an arctic tem- 
perature in an ample refrigerating chamber, wherein 
is preserved in a state of purity the most delicate 
food for a long voyage. It lets go and hauls up 
the anchor. It pulls, with the force of hundreds 
of men, on the hawser that binds the ship to the 
shore. It howls warning in a fog, and calls off the 
code of signals when boats meet on the highway 
of the ocean. It warms the cabins in winter, and 
blows cool air through them in summer. It helps 
cook the meals, and does everything but keep 
the log. 

Many, who have not given the subject much 
thought, wonder why among the great number of 
steamships now on the seas of the world so few 
are American. There is certainly no want of skill 
in the marine architects of this country. American 
seamanship is not at fault. Time was when Amer- 
ican captains of clipper ships stood highest at 
Lloyd's. Thirty or forty years ago the steamers 
of the Collins line were the favorites on the ocean, 
and excelled all others in speed. For half a cen- 
tury America stood at the head of the nations in 
amount of steam-tonnage. As late as i860, the 
steam-tonnage of this country was 867,937, while 
that of Great Britain and all her colonies was 
only 500,149. Eight years previous it was three 



96 A WINDING JOURNEY 

times as much. While our steam-tonnage on inland 
waters and in the coast trade is still large, our 
steamships have almost disappeared from the ocean. 
The- causes are not far to seek. America, having 
plenty of cheap timber, adhered to wood as the 
material of construction, while England changed 
to Iron and steel. We long adhered to the paddle- 
wheel, while foreign nations adopted the more 
economic screw. It is a curious fact that a young 
Swede of genius built, in London, the first suc- 
cessful screw-steamer, the value of which was not 
appreciated by the English. Commodore Stockton 
persuaded the disappointed Swede to migrate to 
America, where, some time afterwards, his genius 
saved the republic by the invention of the monitor. 
The English adopted the screw after Ericsson left 
and America neglected it. The English had the 
wisdom to abandon, as early as 1849, the old 
navigation laws enacted in the time of Cromwell. 
Our navigation laws, founded upon the British 
laws, are still adhered to. Great Britain, France, 
and Germany have encouraged the construction 
of steamships, by granting lucrative contracts for 
carrying the mails to foreign countries, or by 
direct subsidies, while we have protected this home 
industry by a heavy tariff on all the materials used 
in ship-building. 

A great ocean steamer, like the Etruria, the 
Trave, the Victoria, or the Ormuz, is perhaps the 
most striking symbol of our wonderful material civi- 
lization. It is the product of all the ages. When 



AJROUND THE WOELD. 97 

a savage of genius, taught by the attempts and 
failures of countless generations, dimly handed 
down by tradition, launched the first successful 
canoe, a new era dawned upon the struggling race. 
Unnumbered centuries vanished before the bold 
Phoenicians sailed through the Pillars of Hercules 
out upon the Western ocean, or the daring Norse- 
men rowed their boats over the rough Northern 
sea to Iceland. As the Roman poet sang: 

" In oak or tripple brass his breast was mailed, 

"Who first committed to the ruthless deep 
His fragile bark, nor inly shrank and quailed. 

To hear the headlong south-wind fiercely sweep, 
With northern blasts to wrestle and to rave; 

Nor feared to face the tristful Hyades, 
And the wild tyrant of the western wave. 

That lifts or calms at will the restless sea." 

Inventions "grow by what they feed on," and 
with accelerated pace comes the floating palace of 
our day, graceful, swift, beautiful, yet strong enough 
to keep its course unharmed in a tempest that 
would destroy any city on earth. The perils of 
the deep have become less than the perils of 
land. 

I pity the man who finds the voyage across the 
ocean, in a modern steamship, devoid of interest. 
He is carried on the most wonderful machine con- 
structed by the genius of mankind. In it are 
combined the accumulated discoveries of all time. 
Let him imagine himself to be drawn by six 
thousand, ten thousand, even twenty thousand 
horses, all harnessed to a colossal swan, galloping 



98 A WINDING JOURNEY 

fourteen, sixteen, eighteen miles an hour, night 
and day, through storm or calm, and he can begin 
to form some conception of the mighty power, 
transmitted millions of years ago from the sun, 
stored for countless ages in the earth, set free by 
regulated combustion in the furnaces of the ship, 
and applied by cunningly contrived and complex 
machinery to the steady movement of the little 
world on which he floats. The mariner's compass, 
under his eye, is itself one of the wonders of the 
world, with a history stranger than that of Aladdin's 
lamp. Above him. are the bending heavens and 
the everlasting stars that reveal his location on the 
sea. Around him is the ocean, "old and gray," 
hoary with the antiquity of the earth. Beneath 
him are unfathomable depths, concealing mysteries 
that will not be revealed till the last day. The 
perfected ocean steamship is as sublime and beautiful, 
in its way, as a tragedy of Sophocles, as the Divina 
Comedia of Dante, as the Faust of Goethe, or the 
Hamlet of Shakspeare. 

More than a hundred thousand people now 
cross the Atlantic every year, and it would be out 
of place here to describe an ordinary voyage. The 
great steamer, moving like the elements, "making 
no haste, taking no rest," in fog or storm, landed 
the mails at Southampton, on the eighth day, 
according to regulation time, then went on to 
Bremerhaven, where it arrived in the midst of a 
great downpour of rain. Passengers for the Con- 
tinent were sent by the steamship company thirty 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 99 

miles farther by rail, to the city of Bremen, which 
they reached in less than ten days from the time 
of starting from the Western Continent. The ends 
of the earth are brought together by means of 
the accumulated discoveries of the forces of nature 
applied to the needs of practical life. 



100 A WINDING JOURNEY 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 

^ REMAINED a couple of days in Bremen, for the 
c-q) purpose of rest after an ocean voyage and 
* of exploring an interesting commercial city. 
Then I went to Hanover, the beautiful capital of 
a once famous little kingdom, which has given 
to England its present reigning family. From 
there I went up the lovely valley of the Weser, 
through charming Miinden and stately Cassel, to 
Frankfurt-on-the-Main. The guide-books will give 
ample description of the enjoyable city, renowned 
for finance and wine. My good host of the 
Swan showed me the room in his hotel where the 
treaty of peace between France and Germany was 
signed in 1871. From Frankfurt I went, through 
Wurzburg, to Munich. The capital of Bavaria 
had not improved in thirty years. The famous 
beer was just as good, but a spirit of decay seemed 
to rest upon the city which, thirty years earlier, 
I found alive with a new school of art. My next 
journey was to Innsbruck, by way of Rosenheim. 
The spring day was exquisite. The cherry-trees 
were in blossom. Our course was along the swift- 
flowing river Inn, that tried to look glad with its 




GERMAIflA. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 101 

turbid waters in the sun. Streams, swollen with 
the melting snow, ran down the wooded mountain 
sides, like bands of silver, gleaming through the 
ever-green forests. White clouds, sun-illumined, 
rested on the higher mountain peaks, like crowns 
of glory. Innsbruck had grown since I had last 
seen it. New railroads had been built, leading 
off into the Engadine, over the Tyrolese Alps to 
Italy, to Munich, etc. After a short delay, I went 
over the Brenner Pass to Verona. A very useful 
red-headed German, with a small party of friends, 
was in the same railway compartment with me, 
while crossing the mountain. He read aloud a 
minute description of the Pass, as we went along. 
The rest of us listened and looked out, getting 
the double benefit of eyes and ears, while the 
poor fellow saw little besides the pages of his 
book. Perhaps he was trying to reconstruct the 
wonderful Brenner Pass out of his own inner 
consciousness. 

Some weeks later, I entered Germany again, 
from Copenhagen, through Slesvig-Holstein, at 
Hamburg. I remained there several days, inter- 
ested in a large city of great commercial importance 
and industrial activity. Hamburg, like Bremen 
and Liibeck, was still a free city, but it will 
soon be brought within the Zollverein of Germany, 
for which the inhabitants were already making 
preparations. From Hamburg I went to Berlin, 
which I found transformed from a muddy, unsanitary 
city of half a million, to a dazzling capital of a 



102 A WINDING JOURNEY 

million and a quarter. New streets, new pave- 
ments, new hotels, new hospitals, new buildings of 
every kind, new monuments, new animated faces 
in place of the old Prussian faces of iron or stone, 
greeted one everywhere. It had been transformed 
from the repulsive capital of a minor kingdom 
into the attractive capital of the most powerful 
empire of Europe. After some time agreeably 
and instructively spent there, I went from Berlin, 
through Magdeburg, Brunswick, Hanover, and 
Osnabruck, to Amsterdam, in Holland. 

I entered Germany once more, after oeveral 
days, from the side of Switzerland. From Basel, 
I went, by rail, down the valley of the Upper 
Rhine, through Freiburg, stopping at Baden-Baden, 
and at Heidelburg, to Mayence. All was changed 
for the better since I was there before. From 
Mayence, the most strongly fortified city of Europe, 
I went by boat to Coblenz. The river was skirted, 
on either side, by railways, which, in case of need, 
could distribute armies swiftly to any point on the 
frontier of France. The useless old castle of 
Ehrenbreitstein, opposite Coblenz, had been trans- 
formed into a solid fortification. On every hand 
were forts, constructed with consummate engineering 
skill, according to the recent principles of military 
science. The same vineyards were there, the same sky, 
the same storied hills; all else was changed. From 
Coblenz I went off, through the sweet valley of the 
Ems, to Cassel. There I stopped long enough to get 
a view of Wilhelmshohe, on a neighboring eminence, 



#• 




CO LOO NE CATII KDRAT. 



ABOUND THE WOELD. 103 

where Napoleon III. was imprisoned after the 
battle of Sedan. The beautiful castle was built, 
and Its charming grounds laid out, with money 
obtained by the mercenary Duke of Hesse from 
the English monarch for the hire of soldiers to 
help fight his revolted subjects In America during 
our Revolutionary war. From Cassel I went on 
through Gotha and Weimar, made memorable for- 
ever by Schiller and Goethe, to Leipslg. There 
I met American friends, and we celebrated the 
founding of the new German Empire by a night 
in the famous Auerbach's Keller. If in America 
we had the pure wine and sound beer of Germany, 
we should have as little drunkenness here as there. 
From Leipsig I went to Dresden. The city had 
grown and Improved in every way, since my long 
sojourn there, years ago. Once more I went to 
Berlin, and again feasted my eyes on a city that 
Is only second to London and Paris. Then I went 
to Cologne, and gazed all day long in awe and 
wonder at the finished cathedral. It Is the mightiest 
monument of Gothic art in the whole world. 

I first traveled in Germany when It was still 
divided Into numerous Kingdoms, Grand-Duchies, 
Duchies, Principalities, and Free Towns. The 
inhabitants were then enjoying the doubtful blessings 
of local government. One could not say local self- 
government, for the people had very little to do with 
the governments, except to obey their rulers, under 
sharp penalties. The old holy Roman Empire, 
which, as Voltaire mockingly said, was neither holy, 



104 A AYINDING JOURNEY 

nor Roman, nor empire, had ceased to exist in 
1806, when Francis II. formally resigned the crown. 
Each state had its coinage, its separate laws, its 
independent sovereignty, its own court, its police 
system, its well-defined boundaries, its peculiar 
methods of annoying travelers. It was a luxury 
to get into France, or Austria, where one could 
make a journey of some days in succession without 
crossing a frontier, without change of money. The 
people, although indulging themselves in mild 
dreams of German unity, were for the most part 
as narrow and spiritless as the little countries in 
which they dwelt. There was no national life, 
except in the measured and guarded effusions of 
the patriotic poets. The melancholy failure of the 
recent revolutionary attempt had sent the leaders 
of the people into exile or to the scaffold, and 
over the Fatherland brooded the depressing spirit 
of the moribund ages. 

Even Prussia, the leading kingdom, containing 
half the area, and more than half the inhabitants 
of Germany, was divided into two separate parts 
by intervening territory. It was united only when 
Slesvig-Holstein was annexed in 1864, and Han- 
over was acquired by the war with Austria in 
1866. Saxony was rich in art treasures, attractive 
in scenery, had an enlightened and scholarly King, 
yet it had no weight in the councils of Europe. 
The Grand-Duchies of Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, 
Saxe-Weimar, and Hesse-Darmstadt ; the Principali- 
ties of Reuss, Lippe, Schwarzburg, and Waldeck; 




VON MOLTKE. 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 105 

the Duchies of Anhalt, Brunswick, Saxe-Coburg- 
Gotha, and Saxe-Altenburg ; all in Northern Ger- 
many, served little purpose besides holding the 
land together and furnishing worthless rulers with 
the means of riotous living at the expense of 
sorely taxed subjects. In the south, Bavaria was 
of some account as a triton among minnows, but 
had no political power on the Continent, and was 
subordinate to Austria or Prussia in the affairs 
of Germany. Wiirtemberg and Baden were of 
still less account than Bavaria. The independent 
cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, all that 
remained of the great Hanseatic League of the 
middle ages, the earliest trades-union of Europe, 
once embracing eighty-five towns, were of com- 
mercial importance, were encouraging examples of 
prosperous home rule and of free trade, yet they 
were of no account among the nations. 

In a single generation, all these minor states 
have been merged into the new German Empire, by 
the enlightened policy of the Prussian King, by 
the genius of Von Moltke and Bismarck, by the 
fortunes of war. The work begun by Stein has 
culminated in consolidated Germany, in the mightiest 
empire of modern Europe. And fair German lands 
on the left bank of the Rhine, seized and long 
held by the French, have been reannexed to the 
Fatherland. The old German Kingdom, not the 
old Empire, has been restored, and Germany has 
again become a conscious, as for centuries she was 
an unconscious, or semi-conscious, nation. 



106 A WINDING JOURNEY 

It is worth while to pause for a moment and 
enquire what a nation really is. The enquiry will 
be found to lie at the root of all fruitful study 
and sound judgment of the state of the world, in 
the present as well as in the past. 

We often speak of such or such a nation; 
frequently discuss the affairs of nations ; yet few 
of us ever pause to think about a nation, to ask 
ourselves what a nation means. History is an 
account of the rise, progress, achievements, decline 
and fall of nations. Each nation, each people, has 
its individual characteristics, its peculiar life, political 
institutions, literature, language, laws ; its own local 
habitation and name. 

It is quite evident that a nation is not merely 
a territory ; is not simply a portion of the earth's 
surface. The place occupied by a nation, a people, 
is no more a nation, a people, than the house a 
man lives in is a man. 

" O earth, what changes hast thou seen ! 
There where the long street roars was once 
The stillness of the central sea." 

Yet nations have seen more changes than the 
earth. Many a kingdom has passed away, while, 
surrounding sea and land remain substantially the 
same. The same clouds gather on the brow of 
Olympus, the same sun shines on the plains of 
Thessaly, the glorious atmospheric haze rests on 
the hills of Attica, the same tempest lashes the 
-^gean Sea, the same stars keep nightly vigils 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 107 

over Delphi, the same winds sweep over Salamis 
and Platsea, as of old, but the real Hellas is no 
longer there. The mariner on the Mediterranean, 
now, as in the days of ^neas, gazes upon Italy 
''lying low," yet that wonderful land has been the 
habitation of successive nations, successive peoples, 
that exist no more. The Israelites were a nation 
in their bondage, in their wanderings, in the 
Babylonish captivity, as well as when they pos- 
sessed the land "round about Jordan." They are 
a people still, although dispersed' over the whole 
globe. The portion of the North American Con- 
tinent now occupied by our nation, has existed 
from the formation of the sea and the dry land ;. 
yet its fertile soil, its lakes, its rivers, its mountains, 
its long lines of coast, failed to produce a people, 
till causes above the earth planted here a great 
republic. 

Neither is a nation a form of government. Not 
only rulers and dynasties change, but governments 
change in their most essential forms, while nations 
live on. Rome was at first a monarchy, then a 
republic, then an empire, but the nation continued. 
The Israelites remained the same people, while 
governed by patriarchs, by law-givers, by judges, 
by kings, by foreign rulers. France, within a com- 
paratively recent period, has been a monarchy, a 
republic, a kingdom, again a republic, an empire, 
and once more a republic; yet the French people, 
the French nation, has preserved its distinctive 
characteristics, whether governed by Louis XIV., 



108 A WINDING JOURNEY 

by a National Assembly, by a military chieftain, 
by a Bourbon King, by Napoleon III., or by 
M. Carnot. Even England was once a republic, 
without change in the strong individuality of the 
British people. The Italian nation remained distinct 
while ruled in sections by different dynasties, or 
cut up into many turbulent republics. It has 
retained the peculiar features of its individual life 
— a people different from all others — during repeated 
conquests, during the tumultuous changes of a 
thousand years. Greece remained the same nation, 
the same wonderful people, during as many muta- 
tions in government as the wit of man could invent. 
The government of the United States was once a 
loose confederation, then a constitutional union ; 
yet we remained the same American people, the 
same nation, differing essentially from all other 
peoples, all other nations. A nation, therefore, is 
not a mere form of government. 

Again, a nation, a people, is not a mere collection 
of human- beings, is not an aggregation, thus to 
speak, of individuals, an}^ more than the world is 
"a fortuitous concourse of atoms." No subject of 
Augustus Caesar was ruled by Antoninus Pius, yet 
they were both emperors of the same Roman 
people. No Frenchman living in the time of 
Descartes is living to-day, yet who believes that 
France has ceased to live? The Enelishmen of 
the nineteenth century are standing on the graves 
of the Englishmen governed by the Tudors, yet 
who doubts that England still exists? Who ques- 



AROUND THE WORLD. 109 

tions that Homer and Pindar, though separated by 
many vanished generations, sang to the same 
Hellenic people? We speak of Moses and David 
as heads of the same nation of Israelites, though 
widely divided by the shadow-land of perishing 
mortality. A dark stream of time separates Castellar 
and the Duke of Alva, yet the stream is bridged 
with the Spanish national life, Not a soul of us 
will be here in a hundred years, yet, I trust, the. 
American people will be here. Generations come 
and go like the shadows of summer clouds, but the 
nations live on, obedient to laws that have a wider 
sweep than the laws that govern individual life. 

If, then, a nation, a people, is not, essentially, 
a territory, a form of government, or *'a fortuitous 
concourse" of individuals, what is it? The house 
a man lives in, the clothes he wears, and his material 
body, are not the real man. His continuous life, 
that which gives him through all external changes 
a consciousness of his identity, is his soul, his spirit, 
his intellectual and moral being. Just so is it with 
a nation. A people, a nation, has an inner life, 
an organic existence, that preserves its identity, 
through all changes of territory, of government, 
of passing generations. It is an idea, a great 
generalizing principle, a predominant thought, an 
organizing sentiment, a vital force, a mode of 
evolution, call it what you will, that constitutes the 
soul, the essence of a nation. This principle, this 
dominant idea, gathers men around it, animates 
them with a common national life, educates them. 



110 A WINDING JOUENEY 

gradually forms their speech, directs their efforts 
in a certain course, co-ordinates their energies, pro- 
duces through them peculiar laws, shapes literature 
and art, builds political and civil institutions, deter- 
mines forms of religion, molds social life, creates 
manners. Loyalty to this central sentiment, this 
reigning idea, constitutes the soul of patriotism ; 
disloyalty to it, begets rebellion. When this sen- 
timent, this idea, perishes from the minds of men, 
the nation animated by it, ensouled by it, inevitably 
perishes and passes away. 

The tap-root of the Germanic national life is 
an all-pervading sentiment of personal liberty. This 
sentiment, modified in its manifestations, as embodied 
in various institutions, by the surviving Roman 
jurisprudence, by the ancient Hellenic culture, and 
by the Christian religion, constitutes to-day the 
soul of the new German empire. As in the days 
of Tacitus, the Germans prefer individual freedom 
to life itself. They are big blonde Aryans, con- 
stituting the central host of the second migration, 
from Asia, of the leading race of mankind, after 
the Celts and before the Slavs, and are now, as 
of old, simple in their daily life, truthful, hospitable, 
and brave. They have not forgotten, since the 
days of Arminius, how to punish treachery and 
wrong with terrible vengeance, how, on occasion, 
to be fierce and cruel. Others, besides the Roman 
Varus, have fallen victims to that spirit of personal 
liberty, which becomes desperate and reckless of 
life when assailed. Bismarck touched the very core 



AROUND THE WORLD. Ill 

of the German heart, when he said the other day 
in the Reichstag : "If we are attacked, then the 
furor Teutonuus will flame out. . . . Threats 
do not friofhten us. . . . We Germans fear God 
and nothing else in the world. ... He who 
breaks the peace will arrive at the conviction that 
the warlike and exultant love of the Fatherland, 
such as summoned the whole population of Prussia 
to arms in 1813, is the common possession of the 
entire German nation ; and he who attacks us will 
find it armed to a man, every man having in his 
heart the firm belief that God is with us." 

In the Germans, is repeated the .strong indivi- 
dualism of the ancient Greeks. They both sprang 
from the same Asiatic, Aryan stock. They are the 
two philosophising nations of the world. The 
Germans, like the Greeks, have abundance of self- 
will, of mental self-reliance. Like the Greeks, they 
undertake to measure the universe of mind and 
matter by their own intellects. In them we find 
the same mental daring that philosophises God into 
or out of the universe, and the soul into or out of 
man. Like the Greeks, they are fond of endless 
discussions and glory in displays of dialectic skill. 
They are the scholars of modern times. Their 
abundant legends and fairy tales spring from the 
same fecund imagination that peopled Greece with 
divinities. In Leibnitz we have a repetition of 
Pythagoras; in Schelling a modern Plato; in Hegel 
a new Aristotle. The Niebelungen Lied reminds 
us of the Iliad. If Sophocles could have appeared 



112 A WINDING JOTJENEY 

after two thousand years, he might have produced 
Goethe's Torquato Tasso. There are points of 
resemblance between Euripides and Schiller. The 
godless lyrics of Heine are a far-off echo ' of the 
heathen Pindar. Germany, ensouled with a genuine 
spirit of individualism, animated with an enlightened 
sentiment of personal liberty, has protested against 
every species of mental authority. She has been 
a standing menace, in modern Europe, against the 
persistent principle of Roman organization, that 
requires complete and unquestioning subordination 
of the individual to the State and to the Church. 
The Teutons, with tough, will, independent thought, 
and indomitable courage, have more than once 
fought out the battle of mental freedom, when it 
was no single summer's work. Rationalism, whether 
it is a good or an evil, springs from this same prin- 
ciple of mental liberty, which assumes that the 
intellect of the individual man is the measure of 
God's relationship to the race. 

The government of a country Is, in the long 
run, a product of the people. A nation chooses 
for itself, directly or indirectly, in the course of 
time, the political garment it prefers to wear. The 
German government, recognizing the spirit of the 
people, itself participating in it, accords to everyone 
the right of education. Excellent schools for the 
masses are everywhere provided, throughout the 
empire. Every citizen of Germany must send his 
children to the primary schools, unless he has 
provided for their education elsewhere, to the 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 113 

satisfaction of the State. The result is that one 
can scarcely find, in the whole land, a person unable 
to read and write. It is a practical maxim that 
man cannot live by bread alone. Minds, as well 
as bodies, must be fed. And the mental food 
provided is both good and abundant. Technical 
schools, Real-schule, for scientific and practical 
education, of a higher grade, abound in the centers 
of population. The gymnasia of Germany are 
famous in the whole world. They are within the 
reach of all who seek solid learning and thorough 
mental culture. In them the youth of the nation 
are well prepared for the universities, of which 
there are twenty-one in the empire — at Konigsberg, 
Berlin, Breslau, Greifswald, Kiel, Halle, Gottingen, 
Miinster, Bonn, Marburg, Rostock, Giessen, Jena, 
Leipzig, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Strassburg, Tubingen, 
Munich, Erlangen, and Wurzburg. Professional 
education, of the highest quality, is abundantly pro- 
vided for in the universities. Academies of art, 
music, mining, forestry, agriculture, navigation, mili- 
tary science, etc., are within the reach of all who 
wish to prepare themselves, in the most thorough 
way, for special occupations in life. 

The Germans are in advance of the whole 
world, not only in the universality of education, 
but also in the severity of culture. Among the 
whole people, hands are guided by trained minds. 
Division of labor has been established In every 
department of science and learning. Cultivated 
intellect doubles the productive energy of the forty- 



114 A WINDING JOURNEY 

eight millions of the German people. Every field 
of active life is presided over by men taught and 
drilled for their especial work. German bayonets 
think, and know when, where, and how to strike. 
"We have the material," said Bismarck, "not only 
for forming an enormous army, but for furnishing 
it with officers. We have corps of officers such 
as no other power has." 

Germany is taking the lead in commerce, ' as 
well as in every branch of science, on account of 
the superior training of her people. German clerks 
are employed in the business houses of London, 
and other foreign centers of trade, in preference 
to natives, because they are better linguists and 
have a more extensive and accurate knowledge of 
their duties. The British consul at Malaga, recently 
reported to his government : " German clerks are 
sent to Spain to acquire a knowledge of the 
language and business, and on their return home 
they will be well prepared for employment in German 
.firms having business with the country." The vice- 
consul at Uddevalla, in Sweden, wrote : " English 
merchants do not offer their goods by travelers so 
much as some other nations, especially Germany." 
The consul in the Canary Islands stated, that "the 
imports which in former years were almost all from 
England have greatly decreased, while a considerable 
increase has taken place in German imports." He 
explains this by the circumstance that "German 
houses send out to the Canaries, as agents, clever 
linguists, who make it their business, by associating 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 115 

with the natives, to learn exactly their requirements 
and tastes." The consul at Corunna refers to "the 
manner in which Germany is rapidly securing the 
major part of the imports into Spain." He "cannot 
arrive at any other conclusion than that the secret 
of this success lies in superior organization for 
business purposes with agents on the spot to 
give every facility and information to consumers." 
Recently published consular reports of the British 
government give a great amount of testimony in 
the same direction. 

Every observant; traveler in Germany is struck 
with the all-pervading officialism, the omnipresent 
hand of the government. It regulates everything. 
An enlightened people, a people better educated 
than any other people in the world, recognizes 
the benefits, and not only acquiesces, but feels 
gratitude for a paternalism founded on exact 
scientific knowledge and having honestly in view 
the general good. The German, whose love of 
personal liberty would lead him to the cannon's 
mouth or the gallows for its maintainance, under- 
stands much more clearly than an uneducated man 
can understand, that the enjoyment of personal 
liberty depends on the establishment of public 
order on a basis of justice and general convenience. 
The government regulates inn-keeping, the running 
of railroads, the sale of provisions, the sanitation 
of cities, etc., for the protection of all, for the 
common good. The following items, selected from 
an official document handed to every householder 



116 • A WINDING JOUENEY 

on the registration of the birth of a child, will 
show the minute care of the government over the 
people : 

" Keep the room free from dust, smoke, and bad odors ; don't dry 
washed linen in it, nor cover the child's head with veil, clothes or bed 
cover. 

"The light should be softened somewhat during the first week or 
two, but care must be taken not to leave the room in total darkness. 
The night-light must not smoke nor flicker; great care must be taken, 
with petroleum lamps, not to turn them too low. The temperature 
should be a little over sixty degrees Fahrenheit. 

"Cleanliness is the condition of health. Wash the child once a day 
regularly ; eyes, ears, nose and mouth as often as necessary. 

"Carrying-cushions are to be used during .the first three months, but 
guard against tying in too tightly. No tight clothing, no pins. Child to 
be carried little, and never ' dandled.' North and east winds to be 
avoided. Mattresses of horsehair or hay, and often to be changed. 

" A carefully chosen foster-mother strongly advised. 

" Very injurious to ' suck the bottle,' rags of any sort, and probably 
the thumb. 

" Diet : avoid bread, potatoes, or meat. 

"In cases of prolonged crying, sickness, or shortness of breath, 
promptly send for the doctor. Mark any redness of the eyelids as the 
child may lose its sight for life." 

Such minute supervision over the people by the 
government, seems at first sight ridiculous, but its 
value is most apparent to the most enlightened. 
The all-important point is that the paternal govern- 
ment must exercise its authority and give its advice, 
according to scientific exactitude of knowledge, with 
benevolent good sense, and, above all, with manifest 
justice. The German government clearly under- 
stands that it has a thoroughly educated public to 
deal with, and therefore does nothing carelessly or 
thoughtlessly. A brave people, trained to think, 




EMPEROR WILLIAM OF GERMANY. 



AROUND THE WORLD. ^ 117 

would soon rebel against a government that under- 
took to treat its subjects wich caprice, ignorance, 
or injustice. Thus government and people act and 
react upon one another for the advancement of the 
nation. 

Owing to the universal and solid education of 
the people, pretense, quackery, humbug, finds less 
encouragement in Germany than elsfewhere. It is 
the poorest place in the world for one who tries 
to live by his "wits." The advertising fiend fares 
better in England or America. The government 
co-operates with the people in suppressing false 
pretense, in branding public deception with infamy. 

As one runs about Germany, he is everywhere 
struck with the robustness, the physical stamina, 
of the people. Perpetual toil, without hurry, would 
.account for this among the masses ; but in the 
towns, as well as in the rural districts, there is the 
same spectacle of bodily strength and endurance. 
The universal system of physical training in the 
turn-halls, buildings for gymnastic exercise, accounts, 
in large measure, for the health and power of body 
exhibited by the Germans. The training maintained 
by the numerous turner societies, is constant, system- 
atic, and scientific. Method, accurate knowledge, 
patience, perseverance, scientific adaptation of means 
to an end, are characteristic of the Germans in their 
gymnastics, as in everything else. Here again we 
unexpectedly meet with a wise provision of the 
ancient Greeks for the development of perfect men. 
Among the Germans, the effort to secure the 



118 . A WINDING JOURNEY 

"sound mind in a sound body" pertains, not to a 
class, but to the whole people. 

Climate and soil have something to do with 
the physical endurance of the Germans, as well as 
the athletic training so generally adopted. Germany, 
as at present constituted, comprises a territory about 
five hundred miles square in the center of Europe. 
The area is more than four times greater than 
that of the State of New York; four times greater 
than that of England. It extends from the slopes 
of the Alps and the Bohemian mountains, on the 
south, to the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea, 
on the north. It also extends from the borders 
of Holland, Belgium, and France, on the west, 
to the boundaries of Austria and Russia, on the 
east. The number of square miles of territory is 
208,500. The southern portion is more or less 
hilly and mountainous; the northern portion is a 
vast sandy plain, interspersed with fertile tracts 
in the valleys and deltas of rivers, and with 
wide bogs, especially about the lagoons of the 
seas. The Danube, rising, for the most part, in 
the Black Forest, flows into the Black Sea. Nearly 
all the other rivers flow northward. , The country 
is fertile, producing enough for the food of the 
people. It abounds in useful minerals, making 
Germany independent of other nations for imple- 
ments of war and peace. ' The uplands and mountain 
valleys are rich in mineral springs, famous all over 
the world for their medicinal virtues. The climate 
is healthy and conduces to the vigor of the people. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 119 

This comparatively small territory, about one-fifteenth 
of that of the United States, supports a population 
of nearly forty-eight millions, the best educated, 
the most vigorous, in the whole world. 

The political boundaries of Germany do not 
quite correspond with the ethnographical boundaries. 
On the western and north-western frontiers are 
more than two hundred thousand Romanic French 
and Walloons; on the northern frontier, more than 
a hundred and fifty thousand Danes ; and on the 
eastern frontiers, at least three millions of Slavonic 
Czechs, Wends, Lithuanians, and Poles. And 
within the boundaries of Switzerland and Austria 
there are several millions of Germans. During the 
last fifteen or sixteen centuries, the boundaries of 
Germany have been perpetually changing. They 
will probably change often in the centuries to come. 
At different periods the Germans have swarmed 
westward over France, into Spain, and across the 
Straits of Gibraltar into northern Africa. They 
have frequently crossed the Alps into Italy. Ger- 
manic tribes have flowed eastward, around the head 
of the Adriatic Sea, into the Balkan Peninsula. 
The foundation of England was really a German 
colony. The Germans, again like the ancient Greeks, 
are migratory, and hunt the ends of the earth. 
Between 1820 and 1880, more than three millions 
of Germans emigrated to the United States. 
Wherever they go, they stand in their own shoes, 
earn their own bread, demand respect for their 
sentiment of personal liberty, and carry with them 



120 A WINDING JOUENEY 

great wealth of industry, thrift, physical vigor, 
intelligence, and solid education. 

The large emigration from Germany is not due 
to any want of affection for the Fatherland. As 
Germany lies in the center of Europe, surrounded 
by other nations, it is a necessity to maintain a 
great army. Every able-bodied citizen must be 
trained to arms, must bear arms a certain number 
of years, and must be always ready to help defend 
the country in case of war. Every German who 
is capable of bearing arms {Wehrfdhig), must be 
in the standing army from his twenty-first to his 
twenty-eighth year. Of these seven years, three 
must be spent in the active service and the rest 
in the army of reserve. Then for five years longer 
each belongs to the Landwehr, liable to be called 
into the field in case of exigency. "The whole 
land-forces of the empire shall form a united army, 
in war and in peace, under command of the 
Emperor," says the preamble to the Constitution. 
As Bismarck said, Germany can speedily place a 
million of well-armed and well-officered men on 
her eastern and as many on her western frontier. 
It is the desire of the Germans to escape the heavy 
burthen of military service that leads them to seek 
a new home in other lands. 

The new German Empire, like the former Bund, 
Is nominally a confederation of the German States ; 
but these are shorn of all sovereign power. The 
government Is constitutional, not absolute. The 
German Parliament is composed of two bodies, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 121 

the Bundesrath, or Federal Council, consisting of 
fifty-nine members annually appointed by the various 
States ; and the Reichstag, or Imperial Diet, the 
members of which, 397 in number, are elected by 
universal suffrage for three years. The election is 
by ballot. All laws of the empire must receive 
an absolute majority of both houses, must have 
also the signature of the Emperor, and when pro- 
mulgated must be countersigned by the Imperial 
Chancellor, Reichskanzler, who is, ex-officw, president 
of the elective branch of the Parliament. Through 
the Reichstag, the executive department of the 
government is in continual touch with the people. 
In the preamble to the Constitution of the Empire 
it is expressly declared that all the States of 
Germany shall "form an eternal union for the 
protection of the territory of the Bund, and for 
the care of the welfare of the German people." 
The Empire, under the Constitution, has the 
exclusive right to legislate on military and naval 
affairs ; on imperial commerce and finance ; on rail- 
ways, posts, and telegraphs, so far as the defense 
of the nation is concerned. The centralization of 
the government is much greater than in the United 
States, for the laws of the particular States of the 
Bund are held as abrogated when they come in 
conflict with laws of the Empire, and in all disputes 
the imperial jurisdiction is final and supreme. Thus, 
in the formation of the new German Empire has 
been blotted out a very complete system of home 
rule, greatly to the advantage of the German people. 



122 A WINDING JOURNEY 

During my first visit to Germany, I found the 
inhabitants of all the smaller States subdued in 
manner, rather tame in spirit, and not at all inclined 
to self-assertion. In them the sense of German 
nationality was only latent. During my last visit 
I found them especially demonstrative in their con- 
sciousness of citizenship in the foremost empire of 
Europe. Victories over the Austrians and the 
French have awakened in them a proud sense of 
German superiority. The union of Germany under 
a strong, central government, has given them a 
feeling of aggregate strength. Thirty years ago 
the Germans were quiet, unobtrusive, agreeable 
traveling companions. To-day, the manners of 
some, outside of their own country, are rather 
assumptive. The personal liberty which they pug- 
naciously demand for themselves, they sometimes 
forget to respect in others. Many influential people 
who have come in contact with the ruder class of 
Germans on the highways of Europe, would like 
to see them beaten on the Rhine or the Vistula, 
for the sake of correcting their behavior. The 
furor Teutonuus, however admirable on the battle- 
field, is not so agreeable at a table d'hote, in the 
cabin of a steamship, or on a railway train. It is 
a wise people who knows how to use victory with 
moderation, or to enjoy great triumph with modesty 
of bearing. However, only a few Germans behave 
so ill, and the new is wearing off from the robes 
of a resplendent national resurrection. Some allow- 
ance must be made for a people that comes to a 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 123 

full fruition of its aspirations, after a thousand years 
of struggling, suffering, and failure. 

I have thus written down a brief description, 
have drawn an outline picture, of the new German 
Empire, as I can form it in my own mind, from 
my observations, study, and reflection. The govern- 
ment is economic, honest, enlightened ; choses as 
its instruments men who are capable and especially 
educated for the service ; gives its subjects whole- 
some bread for mind as well as body ; encourages 
every kind of learning ; grants freedom of the press 
for everything except attacking the foundations of 
the State ; wrestles with the mighty problem of 
defending a country, exposed on all sides, with as 
little burthen to the nation as possible ; and 
directs the trained energies of the people, without 
friction, without waste, in all the ways of a noble 
civilization. 

Enquiry is frequently made, what will become 
of the new German Empire when Von Moltke, 
Bismarck, and others die, who have created it? 
The following cable from Berlin, to a leading 
American journal, throws light on the situation and 
lifts a little the veil of the future : 

"A man of 29 years, erect, square shouldered, lithe, powerful and 
austere, strode out of the railway station here to-day after seeing a batch 
of royal guests depart. The guard presented arms, and a brilliant retinue 
of generals hurried after the masterful- looking German. It was the 
Crown Prince, who will soon be Emperor of the nation of warriors. 
The waiting multitude at sight of him gave a single yell that came from 
their very hearts. The prince turned toward the sea of faces and looked 
intently at the people. His moody, surly eyes flew rapidly from face to 
face. Then he slowly touched his cap. Cheer after cheer rose wildly in 



124 A wiNDiisra JouRisrEY 

quick succession and with passionate fervor. The prince listened with a 
rapt look, then threw back his head with a sudden motion and showed 
his teeth in a smile of savage exultation. The action was almost theatrical. 
The people fought to get another look at him, and he was whirled away 
amid the hoarse and frantic shouts of his worshipers. 

" The fierce light that beats about the German throne leaves the 
dumb and sickly monarch in the shadow, plodding slowly on toward the 
nearing and inevitable end, while it throws the stalwart, warlike, and 
aggressive figure of Crown Prince William out with vivid distinctness. 
The name of the coming Emperor is heard in the councils of all the 
sovereigns and diplomats of Europe. Not since the first Napoleon has a 
young man wielded such tremendous power as will fall to the lot of the 
headstrong, violent, and revengeful prince. 

"He will have 2,000,000 men and 2,000,000 muskets at his back. 
He hates the English and he hates the Jews. So do the German people. 
When he was ordered to San Remo by the late Emperor to visit his 
invalid father the royal party started to walk to church, and Prince 
William's English mother, the present Empress, attempted to take his 
arm. He shook her oflf roughly in the presence of the crowd. 

" ' I represent the person of the Emperor,' he said haughtily, ' I 
walk alone!' 

"Von Moltke, the 88-year-old field-marshal, has a shrewd, brilliant 
and ambitious assistant. Count Waldersee, a hater of the English, who is only 
40 years old, but a general in whom the great German army places 
absolute confidence. The count and prince are warm friends. When one 
is Emperor he will make the other field-marshal. Both are schemers, 
and their power will be tremendous. Hence knights and diplomats all 
over Europe watch Berlin with weary eyes, and when William II. ascends 
the throne the map-makers may get ready and sharpen their tools, for 
they will have work to do." 




EMPEROR FREDERICK OF GERMANY. 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 125 



CHAPTER III. 

UNITED ITALY. 

o^FTER crossing the Alps by the magnificent 
v^^ Brenner Pass, I went on, through Botzen, 
•=• where long before I had turned off into the 
Engadine ; through Trent, where the famous eccle- 
siastical council held sessions, at intervals, from 
1545 to 1563; through Ala, the frontier town of 
Italy, where a brigandish-looking custom-house 
ofThcial fined me six francs for carrying four ounces 
of smoking tobacco ; to Verona, la degna, " the 
worthy." 

At Verona I remained a day, to take another 
look at a famous Lombard city. It had not changed 
since my two previous visits. I went again to see 
remains of Diocletian's Amphitheatre, still in a 
good state of preservation after eighteen hundred 
years, more than five hundred feet long, more 
than four hundred feet wide, more than a hundred 
feet high, with forty-five rows of inside steps 
and seventy-two arches still remaining. The great 
solid stones were in place, as piled by Romans 
before the might of the empire had been broken. 
Interesting to me were statues in the Town Hall, 
of Cornelius Nepos, Vitruvius, Pliny the younger, 



126 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Catulus, and other natives of Verona. In their 
company was a modern statue of the great Dante. 
An equestrian group of five figures in metal, the 
Scahger monuments, represented the della Scalas, 
who ruled the city in the middle ages. At a 
convent in Vicolo Franceschino, I was again shown 
the tomb of Juliet, quite as a'pochryphal as the 
monuments of William Tell at Altdorf. Infinitely 
more interesting to me was Gargagnano, on a 
height overlooking Verona, where Dante wrote his 
Purgatory. The winding Adige ran down, from 
the vine-clad hills and the far-off mountains, swiftly 
through the city that has witnessed the tramp of 
armies to and fro, from the earliest invasion of 
the Gauls to the fleeing Austrians in our day. 
But of all these things, and many more, the guide- 
books and school histories will inform any one who 
has an inclination to read. 

From Verona I went on to Venice, where I 
remained several days. The first thing I did was 
to visit the Manfrini Palace, to see again Titian's 
portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, one of my pet 
pictures, spoken of before. It was no longer there. 
It had been sold ; the servants knew not to whom. 
One thought it had been purchased by an English 
nobleman ; another thought it had gone to America. 
I felt very much as I can conceive a mother to 
feel who is bereft of a child. I pray that whoever 
in the wide world has it may be tender and good 
to my lost little one. After that, Venice seemed 
to me more silent and mournful than ever. The cry 




THE RIALTO AT VENICE. 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 127 

of the gondoliers and their snatches of song were 
more deeply pathetic. The very comic operettas 
on the Grand Canal, by moonlight, seemed like 
the chanting of dirges. A companion by my side 
in the silently moving gondola, in whose eyes I 
read the tender history of many vanished years, 
seemed also changing, and unconsciously preparing 
for an everlasting departure. 

The decay of Venice during one-fourth of a 
century was apparent on every hand. The beautiful 
Piazza of San Marco was there, but the gay 
crowds at evening were no longer listening to the 
stirring music of an Austrian military band, and 
the windows of the shops attracted fewer loiterers. 
The Cathedral of San Marco, with its bronze 
horses dating back to the time of Nero, with its 
gilt mosaics, with its five hundred marble pillars, 
seemed to' have grown dingy and somber. The 
Bridge of Sighs recalled a past growing deader 
year by year. The very marble of the Ponte di 
Rialto seemed to have become weather-worn. The 
Campanile seemed to have lost the benediction of 
the bending heaven, and to stand out like a 
sepulchral monument over a buried city. The 
pigeons of the Piazza seemed, like the beggars, 
to have learned to discriminate between the natives 
and more generous strangers. The paintings of 
Veronese, so rich in coloring, and the bright pic- 
tures of Titian, seemed to have faded into somber 
hues. The splendid palaces had become commercial 
schools, hotels, courts of law, or municipal ofifices. 



128 ■ A WINDING JOURNEY 

The Mocenigo, where Byron Hved, was still there, 
but over it brooded the spirit of Missolonghi. 
Even to see real Venetian glass, one must journey- 
far off, to the cold capital of Denmark. The 
palace where Othello wooed and won the fair 
Desdemona has been turned into a hostelry. 

Venice flourished during all the middle ages, 
because it was the best stand for the distribution 
of the rich goods of the east to western Europe. 
Its ships traded to all oriental ports on the Medi- 
terranean and Euxine. Its people were brave and 
among the foremost fought back the Turks from 
Europe. Its decay dates from the time when 
western navigators opened a new highway of trade. 
Napoleon, at Campo Formio, only ended ' what 
Vasco da Gama had begun. The Venetians are 
now living on the memories and accumulations of 
the past, and on such tribute as the curious 
wanderers of other nations willingly pay for a 
view of the faded glories of the republic. 

From Venice I went on by rail, around the 
head of the Adriatic, to Trieste, which still belongs 
to Austria. 

Some months afterwards, I again entered Italy 
at Naples. Beautiful land and lovely sea were 
there, still meeting in sweet, passionate embrace, 
but Bomba's kingdom had departed. The southern 
Italians were beginning to learn how to toil, and, 
consequently, for them the dolce-far-niente was 
losing its charms. Even the lazzaroni were rubbing 
their eyes and looking out upon a new dawn. The 




^^^ ^^^y^.Jri'flriiii^^ ' 



PAXACE OF THE DOGE. 



AROUND THE WOULD. 129 

picturesque and romantic brigands, the militia of a 
lost cause, were wanting, but their place was better 
filled by the disciplined soldiers of an Italian army. 
Beggars still swarmed in the streets and highways, 
but they were growing less importunate, and signs 
were not wanting that the race might in time become 
extinct. As I entered the bay of Naples I met one 
of the great ironclads, with its loo-ton guns, coming 
out. The omen was good and significant of many 
things. At Reggie and Messina, the screaming of 
locomotive whistles announced the transition from 
a dead or barbarous past to the living present and 
the enlightened future. As I sailed away from the 
familiar shores towards Egypt, I thought much 
about the wanderings of Ulysses, and shall recur 
to them again. Both from the north of Italy, 
and from the south of Italy, it was my fortune to 
seek the East. 

During my earlier travels in Italy, an account 
of which has already been given, the country was 
divided into several States, nearly all of which 
were governed in a despotic way, under the guidance 
of Austria. In the south, was the Kingdom of 
Naples and Sicily, ruled over by King Ferdinand, 
who had acquired the nickname of King Bomba, 
on account of his bombardment of Messina and 
Palermo, and for shooting down his own subjects 
in the streets of Naples. In central Italy were 
the Papal States, extending from sea to sea. 
Farther north was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 
The Duchies of Parma and Modena were still 

9 



130 A WINDING JOUENEY 

farther north. The little Republic of San Marino, 
on the confines of the Papal States, far up in the 
Apennines, was of no account. The richest part 
of Italy, Lombardy, and Venetia, belonged to 
Austria. In the north-west was the Kingdom of 
Sardinia, governed by King Victor Emmanuel, // 
Re Galantuomo, the honest King, in whom were 
centered the hopes of all wise Italians who desired 
a union of the nation under a single government. 
The tiny Kingdom of Monaco, on the Mediter- 
ranean, east of Nice, had an independent existence. 
I saw the monarch review his army of sixty men. 
Everywhere, except in Sardinia, the people were 
held in subjection by despots. The revolution of 
1848 had been put down by the aid of Austria. 
Italian patriots were in dungeons, in exile, or in 
their graves. The King of Sardinia was helpless 
against the might of Austria, and the indifference 
of the rest of Europe. The political societies 
were in existence, but, watched by the secret police 
and armed minions of tyrants, were apparently 
helpless. The exiled leaders seemed to be only 
a hinderance to the moderate statesmen of Turin. 

It is not necessary here to give even an outline 
of Italian history up to the period of which we 
are speaking. Among the ruins of the crumbling 
Roman Empire, amid the invasions of barbarians, 
amid the growth and decay of various local 
republics, amid the alternating conquests of the 
great Powers of Europe, an Italian people had 
been formed, developing a national speech, pro- 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 131 

ducing a wonderful literature, achieving renown 
in painting, sculpture, architecture, and music, 
opening up highways of commerce, discovering 
new continents, leading the rest of mankind in 
diplomacy, taking the initiative in all the arts of 
peace and war. How such a people grew up, 
homogeneous in the midst of distracting antagonisms 
and disintegrating political conflicts, is one of the 
mysteries of human history. The Niobe of nations 
has eaten her bread in sorrow, and has learned to 
know and feel the "heavenly powers" that preside 
over the destinies of men. 

It required the prophetic vision of Mazzini and 
the clear insight of Cavour to discover whence any 
new light might dawn on Italy. They and others 
of a gifted race knew well that the same fire of 
unity was burning in the hearts of thirty millions. 
Might and genius were there in abundance to con- 
quer liberty, if they could be co-ordinated and 
directed to a single end. Nations grow, and are 
not made. Italy had grown in the storm and 
sunshine of centuries and was ripe to take its 
place among the peoples of the world. 

Let us shift the scene a few years, to the mid- 
summer of 1 87 1. A different and a brighter 
picture will meet our eyes. We can then trace 
more easily the steps of a wonderful transition. 

Victor Emmanuel at that time entered Rome 
and took formal possession of the future capital 
of the Kingdom of Italy. It was the last gorgeous 
scene in the last act of a mighty national drama. 



132 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Italy at length realized the hope of a thousand 
years. The peninsula, from the ''Alps all around 
to the sea," for the first time since the downfall 
of the Roman Empire, was united under one 
government. The land of Scipio and Caesar, of 
Cataline and Nero, of Virgil and Horace, of 
Gregory VII. and Borgia, of Dante and Petrarch, 
of Vitruvius and Michael Angelo, of Raphael and 
Machiavelli, of ancient Etruscan civilization and 
Papal dominion, of Roman discipline and mediaeval 
anarchy, of antique virtue and modern laxity, of 
political freedom and political despotism, of Rienzi 
and Savanarola, of Vico and Galileo — the land 
where the "orange and the citron bloom," where 
the shores are laved by the warm waters of the 
Mediterranean, where the luminous atmosphere rests 
on the mountains like a halo of paradise, where 
the plains are fertile and the uplands are clothed 
with perpetual verdure, where the grape hangs in 
clusters by the wayside and the fig ripens in the 
sun, where nature and art strive for the mastery 
in the realm of beauty — the land of all glories and 
all miseries, of ignorance and genius, of barbaric 
invasions and civil wars — the land that every civi- 
lized man longs to see, finally became the undisputed 
home of the Italian race. Thirty millions of people 
were united under a constitutional monarchy. 

The first booming of Herr Krup's steel guns 
on the Rhine was a summons to France to recall 
her troops from Rome. The citizens of the Papal 
States hastened to throw off the unnatural yoke 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 133 

of an ecclesiastical government, as soon as the 
janissaries of Gaul had taken their departure. The 
house of Savoy was invited to extend its mild 
dominion over the remnant of central Italy. A 
bloodless revolution was effected. The work of 
Cavour, the greatest of modern European states- 
men, was completed. The luckless Emperor, whose 
arms had helped to drive the hated Austrian from 
Lombardy and Venetia, was overwhelmed at Sedan, 
and the rapid victories of Germany over France 
obscured for a season the glorious achievement of 
Italian unity. 

At noon, Sunday, July 2nd, in that midsummer 
of 1 871, a railway train brought the King to Rome. 
We all remember how the ecclesiastics of the 
Eternal City once deprecated the introduction of 
the iron-horse. Louis Kossuth rightly called the 
steam-engine a "democrat." The successor of St. 
Peter, under the' circumstances, might well view 
the locomotive with apprehension and anathematize 
it as an instrument of the devil. In this case it 
brought the Pope's political successor. The station 
was decorated with flags and flowers. There was 
one bouquet "as tall as the first story of a house." 
Representatives of clubs, of city governments and 
of the Italian parliament were there to welcome the 
Re Galantuomo. Pio Nono, at the outset of his 
Papacy, so Italian, so liberal, then, under the influ- 
ence of Austria, after the dismal failure of 1848, 
so reactionary, obstinately forgetful of his exalted 
spirrtual dignity, shut himself up in the Vatican, 



134 A WINDING JOURNEY 

exclaiming piteously, "all is lost." The city of the 
Caesars was alive with curiosity and drunken with 
joy. The royal procession — the King's coach, five 
court carriages, the national guard of honor, the 
King's guard of mounted cuirassiers — moved through 
the living streets, greeted with multitudinous vivas, 
to the Quirinal. The whole city had assembled 
there. An obelisk, four thousand years old, looked 
down upon the living mass. Colossal horses in 
stone coldly viewed the pageant. A superb foun- 
tain unconsciously cooled the hot air of summer. 
Shouts of enthusiastic greeting arose from tens of 
thousands, and rolled from the Quirinal Hill down 
over the deserted and silent streets of the city. 
Victor Emmanuel entered the palace, and soon 
appeared on the Benediction Balcony, from which 
the election of a new Pope was wont to be pro- 
claimed. He said not a word, but from his homely 
face shone the eloquence of intense emotion. He 
disappeared, but the multitude insisted upon his 
return. He reappeared for a moment, accompanied 
by Prince Humbert and several Italian gentlemen, 
who pointed their field-glasses towards St. Peter's 
and the Vatican in the distance. 

Towards evening the Kincr went out of the 
city to Acqua Acetosa, near the ancient classical 
Antemnae, to inaugurate the Tiro Nationale, or 
target-shooting. Fie also took a hand at it, and 
acquitted himself well. In the evening there was 
a state dinner at the Quirinal. After dmner the 
King went to the opera ; nobody listened to Norma, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 135 

but everybody shouted, and all sang the national 
anthem. 

The next morning the King of United Italy 
held a council, received deputations, signed state 
papers — did all that was necessary to inaugurate 
the capital at Rome. The sovereign remarked : 
"Now that we are in Rome, we must maintain 
ourselves here." Late in the afternoon there was 
a royal review of national troops in the Piazza del 
Popolo, not far from the place where the great 
Csesar reviewed and punished his turbulent legions. 
Early in the evening the artists serenaded the 
King. They bore in their midst a superb Italian 
flag, made in i860, and kept hidden among them- 
selves during eleven years. Around this central 
banner floated the flags of all civilized nations. 
Rome was ablaze with illumination. The Capitol 
Hill seemed a mass of fire. The Column of Trajan 
stood out against the sky like a memory of the 
past. The streets were filled with torchlight pro- 
cessions, and the air was rent with shouts. The 
ruins of the ancient city reverberated with the 
sound of modern music. The whole ended with 
a magnificent municipal ball at the Campodoglio. 
Humbert, the Crown Prince, appeared with the 
beautiful wife of a fashionable orreengfrocer on his 
arm, thus paying court to the people. Italy's 
capital gathered there its beauty and its chivalry. 
And when music arose with its voluptuous swell, 
it sounded over the Forum which had once thun- 
dered with the eloquence of Cicero, and echoed 



136 A WINDING JOUUNEY 

among the ruins of the Flavian Amphitheater. 
The patter of glowing feet might have been heard 
in the dungeon where St. Paul had once been 
imprisoned. The lamps that shone o'er fair women 
and brave men lit up the dreadful Tarpeian Rock, 
and cast a glare over the scene of Caesar's murder. 
Soft eyes looked love to eyes, while the ghostly 
forms of a hundred generations of conscript 
fathers seemed to be creeping among the shadows 
of antique statues. All went merry as a marriage- 
bell, while the anxious King was thinking of the 
terrible anathemas of his church. Victor Emmanuel 
remained at the ball only an hour, and then took 
train for Florence. 

It is foreign to my purpose here to give an 
account of the rise and growth of the house of 
Savoy. It is a long and intricate story, involving 
much of European as well as Italian history, during 
many centuries. It will be interesting, however, 
to trace the steps of the Sardinian King from 
Turin to Rome. 

In the year 1853 Count Cavour was made prime 
minister. With the instinct of statesmanship, with 
breadth of view, with the genius of leadership, 
with a patriotism embracing all Italy, he at once 
took steps to gain the confidence of the people, 
and ultimately to unite the nation under a liberal 
constitutional government. He saw that, with all 
Europe against any general revolutionary move- 
ment, it would be madness to encourage the 
methods of Mazzini and Garibaldi. They and 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 137 

their followers, however, might be controled and 
made useful to the country. His first step was to 
form a coalition with Urbano Ratazzi, the head 
of the democratic party in Piedmont. He thus 
strengthened his position at home. He next remon- 
strated with Radetzky for his severe rule, as the 
representative of Austria, at Milan, and with King 
Ferdinand H. for his brutal treatment of his subjects 
in the two Sicilies. As he expected, his remon- 
strances were spurned, but thereby he gained the 
goodwill and confidence of Italians suffering under 
tyranny. And just to that extent he diverted the 
minds of the most thoughtful, the most prudent, 
the most conservative, and therefore the most influ- 
ential, from the dangerous ways of reyolution. His 
next step was to place the portion of Italy under 
his direction in such relationship with great European 
powers as might secure foreign influence, if not inter- 
ference, for the advancement of his plans for the 
good and ultimate union of his dismembered and 
distracted country. An opportunity soon presented 
itself. England and France were engaging in war 
with Russia, whom Cavour looked upon as the 
chief pillar of absolute government in Europe. His 
colleague. La Marmora, had already brought the 
Sardinian army into a state of good discipline and 
efficiency. Count Cavour, without hesitation, joined 
the allies against the Muscovite. The Sardinian 
contingency did good service in the Crimea, and 
won laurels, especially on the field of Tchernaya. 
When the war was over, Cavour found his oppor- 



138 A WINDING JOURNEY 

tunity in the Congress of Paris. He was doubtless 
the ablest man in that assembly of diplomats, and 
with consummate skill laid before the representa- 
tives of the great European Powers the wretched 
state of his countrymen under the King of Naples 
and Sicily. France and England listened. Both 
endeavored to persuade the tyrant to behave better 
to his subjects, and withdrew their ambassadors 
when he refused to listen. Count Cavour no doubt 
foresaw the result, but he had pleaded the cause 
of Italy before Europe, and had strengthened his 
hold upon his countrymen. 

Louis Napoleon, from the time he had assumed 
the reins of government in France, had studied 
the means of weakening Austria. It suited his 
purposes to make a close alliance with the reigning 
family of Sardinia. His cousin Joseph married 
the daughter of Victor Emmanuel. In 1859 ^^^ 
Emperor of France determined to make war upon 
Austria. Of course Count Cavour seized the oppor- 
tunity to advance his plans for the unification of 
Italy. He demanded that Austria should grant to 
Lombardy and Venetia a separate national govern- 
ment, and should cease to meddle in the affairs of 
the rest of Italy. As he desired, the demand was 
rejected. Sardinia then joined France in the war. 
The Sardinian King and his general, Cialdini, 
defeated a detachment of the Austrian army which 
had crossed the Ticino. The victory of the French 
at Magenta drove the Austrians out of Lombardy. 
Already the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 139 

Duchess Regent of Parma had fled from their 
capitals before their revolted subjects. After the 
battle of Magenta the Duke of Modena left his 
people, never to return. The Austrians were again 
defeated at Solferino, by the allied armies of 
Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel. Just when Count 
Cavour was feeling certain that the hated enemies 
of Italy would be speedily driven beyond the Alps, 
as the Emperor of France had promised, Prussia 
appeared on the scene and warned Napoleon to 
advance no further, under penalty of war on 
the Rhine. Consequently Napoleon, v/ithout the 
concurrence of his ally, met Francis Joseph, at 
Villafranca, and arranged terms of peace. Among 
other things stipulated was the establishment of 
an Italian confederation, of which the Emperor of 
Austria would necessarily be a member. Lombardy, 
to the west of the Mincio, was given up to Sardinia. 
The Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of 
Modena were to return. The two Emperors might" 
propose, but the people of Italy were determined 
to dispose. The revolt continued in Tuscany, 
Modena, Parma, and Romagna, and the people 
asked to be united to Sardinia. It was time for 
Cavour to take a hand in the game. Victor 
Emmanuel refused to be a party to the return of 
the petty rulers of central Italy. Napoleon acqui- 
esced, in exchange for Savoy and Nice. By a 
vote of the people, Tuscany, Romagna, Modena 
and Parma were annexed to the Kingdom of 
Sardinia. Cavour snatched a very substantial vie- 



140 A "WINDING JOtlENEY 

tory from the jaws of defeat. Sardinia lost a 
little and gained much. The able minister of 
Victor Emmanuel understood better than any other 
Italian, that statesmanship is the science of exigen- 
cies. The great powers of Europe growled at 
the result, but concluded not to break the peace. 
The major excommunication was thundered from 
the Vatican, but the good Pope was powerless. 

It is not necessary to recount here, in detail, 
how, soon after the Franco-Austrian war, Garibaldi, 
starting- out with a mere handful of volunteers, 
against the mild protest of Cavour, protected by 
the indifference of Napoleon, conquered Sicily and 
Naples from the new Bourbon King, Francis II., 
and passed them over to Victor Emmanuel, against 
the protest of the. more fervid republicans, and in 
spite of the conscious and unconscious machinations 
of friends and foes. It was the noblest gift made 
by any man to the unity of Italy. He was the 
idol of the people and might have spoiled every- 
thing by personal ambition. The Italian people 
should build him a monument as endurine as an 
obelisk. He was the hero, as Count Cavour was 
the statesman, of united Italy. 

Neither is it necessary to recount the difficulties 
of administration encountered by the government 
of King Victor Emmanuel in southern Italy. The 
untimely death of Cavour was a loss that seemed 
irreparable. But the Re Galantiiomo steadied every- 
thing by keeping faith with everybody. He was 
acknowledged as King of Italy by the French 



AROUND THE WOULD. 141 

Emperor in exchange for the Httle PrincipaUty of 
Monaco, which was added to the Department of 
Nice. 

The Austrian s still held Venetia and the famous 
quadrilateral of fortresses in the valley of the Po, 
at Mantua, Peschiera, Vicenza, and Verona. The 
Pope still ruled over Rome and the adjacent territory. 
It was not easy to see how Italy could acquire 
either. The revolutionists, even the more moderate 
Garibaldians, proposed to take them by force. 
Count Cavour was no longer living to restrain 
them, or guide them, with the wisdom of states- 
manship. Rome was garrisoned by French troops, 
and an attempt to take the city by force would 
involve a conflict with the Emperor. The English 
were in hearty sympathy with the Italians; there 
was a powerful public sentiment in Europe against 
the occupation of Rome by the French. Louis 
Napoleon, feeling the force of the general senti- 
ment, entered into an agreement with the govern- 
ment of Victor Emmanuel, called the September 
Convention, to gradually evacuate the territory of 
the Pope, but exacted an agreement from the King 
to defend the temporal power of the Holy Father, ■ 
in case of need. It is evident that the advisers of 
the King were less wily than Cavour, Garibaldi 
had no respect for the September Convention, and 
it became necessary to oppose him with arms when 
he landed from Sicily with an attacking force in 
southern Italy. 

But Providence helped the fortunate King, and 



142 A WINDING JOURNEY 

a dangerous drift of public opinion was turned in 
another direction by the outbreak of war between 
Prussia and Austria, in 1866. Prussia had arrested 
the conquest of northern Italy in the war between 
Austria and France. Now she needed Italy as 
an ally and promised to guarantee the cession of 
territory which she had forbidden Napoleon and 
Victor Emmanuel to conquer some years before. 
An Italian army held Austrian forces in Italy and 
made the decisive victory of Koniggratz a possibility. 
In the peace which followed, Austria gave up all 
her Italian territory except Istria, Aquileia, and the 
possessions of Venice on the Dalmatian coast — 
more than Prussia had promised — to the French 
Emperor, who passed the same over to his former ally. 
All Italy was then one, except the portion still 
held by the Pope. In order to protect the Holy 
Father in his temporal possessions, Louis Napoleon 
felt it necessary to send another army to Rome. 
The Italian patriots were furious, and no doubt the 
government sympathized with them. The Emperor, 
who needed the support of the ultramontanes in 
France and elsewhere, informed Ratazzi, the minister 
of the King, that if any attack were allowed to 
be made on Rome, he should regard it as a 
declaration of war. The Italian government was 
therefore reduced to the humiliating necessity of 
arresting Garibaldi, and protecting Pio Nono with 
its army. Dangerous riots broke out at Milan and 
elsewhere. The cause of Italian unity seemed to 
be in danger on the very eve of triumph. 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 143 

Again Providence helped the patriot King. In 
1870, war was declared between France and Prussia. 
The Emperor needed his whole army on the Rhine, 
and withdrew his troops from Rome. The disaster 
of Sedan ended for ever the power of Louis 
Napoleon. Victor Emmanuel announced to the 
Pope that he assumed the duty of preserving order 
in the whole of Italy. The Pope made an appeal 
in vain to the new Emperor of Germany. Florence 
had been made the capital of Italy by the September 
Convention. But henceforth Rome was to be the 
seat of government of United Italy. The formal 
entry of the King has already been described. 

I have no inclination to discuss here the relations 
of the Holy See to United Italy. It may be said, 
in passing, that Christianity has built for itself no 
nationality. It tempers and modifies more and 
more the nationalities that come within its influence. 
It is not an idea, creating a distinct people in the 
world, but a life, transforming the old life of the 
race, universal in its aims and influence, recognizing 
man not only as the viator, the sojourner in time, 
but as an immortal soul, the heir of eternity. It 
failed to save the nations of antiquity, because the 
partial ideas on which they were founded could not 
be made to conform to its universality. To Jews, 
Greeks, and Romans alike, all beyond their own 
borders were barbarians, with no human rights as 
distinct from and above national rights. Christianity 
recognizes all as the children of God, equal in 
natural rights, and thus it carries in its bosom the 



144 A WINDING JOUENEY 

seeds of political equality and universal liberty. 
The Church of Rome, as a political power in 
modern Europe, or as a polity, is the joint product 
of the Roman idea of organization and of the 
Italian idealism that irresistibly seeks unity. 

During the last sixteen or seventeen years, 
united Italy has advanced in all directions. It is 
now recognized as a first-class European power, 
and has its influence in the counsels of the nations. 
With a territory, including the islands, of only a 
little more than 120,000 square miles, it has a popu- 
lation of thirty millions. It has an army of about 
200,000 men in active service, which can be increased 
to 2,500,000, to meet the exigencies of war. It 
has a powerful navy of nearly eighty ships, more 
than twenty of which are ironclads. It has a com- 
merce employing about 8,000 ships, of which 200 
are steamers, with nearly 200,000 sailors. Its total 
exports and imports amount to $500,000,000. Its 
revenues are not far from $300,000,000, and its 
expenditures are about the same. A national debt 
of $2,000,000,000 implies heavy taxation, which is 
cheerfully borne. The ends of the country are 
united with 6,000 miles of railway, and brought 
within speaking distance by 20,000 miles of tele- 
graph. Manufactures are backward, but constantly 
advancing. The mass of the people are still 
lamentably ignorant, but the State is constantly at 
work throwing light into the dark places of the 
country. Funds obtained from the confiscation of 
church property have been devoted to schools for 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 145 

the people, to which government adds every year 
$5,000,000 more. Higher education is provided 
for by twenty-two universities, attended by 10,000 
students, some of which have been renowned for 
centuries. The parHament of Italy consists of 270 
senators and 508 deputies. The government is 
constitutional and well adapted to -the needs of a 
free people. All religions are tolerated and the 
press is free. Revolutionary propagandism has 
ceased and the people are contented with the 
enlightened rule of Victor Emmanuel's worthy 
heir. Brigandage has been suppressed, order every- 
where reigns, beggary is diminishing, poverty is 
becoming less distressing, and industry is bearing 
fruits of comfort and self-respect throughout the 
beautiful peninsula. The thoughtfulness, the poli- 
tical sobriety and prudence of Italians, are remarked 
by all recent travelers. 

Notwithstanding the low state of agriculture, 
the general prevalence of the Metayer (half-and- 
half) system, which reduces the farmer to a worse 
condition than that of the day laborer, and 
notwithstanding the heavy taxation of a country 
not over rich in resources, Italian emigration is 
comparatively less than that of most other European 
countries. 

From the character of the people great things 
may be hoped for the future of United Italy. The 
sentiment that is dominant in the Italian nation, 
that constitutes its inner life, that shapes the insti- 
tutions of the country, that gives direction to the 
10 



146 A WINDING JOIJKNEY 

main currents of activity, is an idealism which seeks 
unity in the midst of all discouragements and all 
failures — "the eternal gospel of oneness to the 
people," as Mazzini expressed it. This idealism 
is a genuine product of the imagination, and is 
essentially creative in its character. Hence the 
Italians, even iA the midst of their political disin- 
tegrations, have taken the lead in modern civilization. 
I do not mean that they have reached the greatest 
excellence in everything, but that they first opened 
the highways traversed by other European nations. 
It was an Italian in whose mind was working this 
idealism that hungers after unity, that thirsts for 
completeness, who surmounted the terrible super- 
stition, the leaden inertia of the scientific incredulity 
of his times, and sailed out in a frail ship on the 
western ocean into the appalling darkness of the 
unknown, till he discovered for mankind the new 
world. Antiquity has recorded no achievement 
equal to that of the Italian, Columbus. An Italian 
first turned a telescope towards the stars and 
measured off great spaces of the universe. An 
Italian of transcendent genius sang of Hell, Pur- 
gatory, and Paradise, producing a national epic 
equal in grandeur to the Iliad, giving "voice to 
ten silent centuries," while the rest of Europe was 
dumb in semi-barbarism. The modern university 
is a creation of Italian genius. Italy was adorned 
with a new architecture before other modern nations 
began to build. Her painters had rivaled the 
splendors of nature, creating a new and unapproach- 



AROUND THE WORLD. 147 

able school of art, before the great painters of 
northern and western Europe were born. Whole 
armies of exquisite sculptured figures sprang from 
the quarries of Carrara, under the magic touch of 
the Italian chisel, long before other modern peoples 
had thought of imitating the creators of the 
Parthenon. Modern music is a product of Italy. 
Italian scholars resurrected ancient literature from 
its grave of centuries. 

Animated by their national spirit, by the creative 
idealism that ensouls them as a people, the Italians 
have taken the lead in practical things as well 
as in the more showy productions of art. The 
first bank was Italian. The Italians invented bills 
of exchange. They introduced the compass into 
navigation from the East, and established modern 
commerce. The first Monte-de-PieU, which in our 
times has degenerated into the pawnbroker's shop, 
was established by the Italians for the benefit of 
the unfortunate and the poor. Modern diplomacy 
is a product of Italian genius. Modern juridical 
science was an outcome of the Italian universities. 
To the same source must be referred anatomy, the 
foundation of a real science of medicine. An 
Italian wrote the first political history In Italy 
were established the first republics of modern 
times, and from the annals of Italy the fathers of 
the American nation caught the inspiration of 
liberty. 



148 A WINDING JOURNEY 



CHAPTER IV. 

GREECE, SEEN FROM THE SEA. ATHENS. THE 

ACROPOLIS. 

o®T the north-eastern extremity of the Adriatic 
^^ Sea, is Trieste, the ancient Tergeste of the 
••* Romans. It is a beautiful city, of about 
140,000 inhabitants, including the suburbs. Trieste 
is the largest seaport of Austria, with much com- 
merce to the Levant, and some to India. Entering 
and clearing the harbor are 14,000 vessels annually, 
with a tonnage of more than twenty millions. The 
Emperor Charles VI. made it a free port in 1719. 

The population and the language of Trieste are 
mostly Italian. It is a curious fact that there are 
four times as many Slavs in the city as Germans. 
Of the latter there are only 5,000, while of the 
former there are more than 20,000 — nearly one- 
sixth of the population. Near the Hotel de Ville 
is a neat Greek church, S. Niccolo dei Greci. Down 
the eastern coast of the Adriatic we shall find the 
Slavs increasing, affording a foothold for Russian 
influence. 

Always more interested in persons than places, 
I ascended the Via della Cathedrale to the open- 
air Museo Lapidario, in a disused burial-ground, 




MINEEVA. 



AROmSTD THE "WOELD. 149 

to find the tomb of Winckelmann, the great 
German writer on ancient art, who was murdered 
at Trieste, in 1768, by an ItaHan fellow-traveler, 
for the sake of plunder. The murderer was 
caught and executed. A monument was erected 
to Winckelmann, in 1832, in a small temple here, 
with medallion portrait, and allegorical relief. 

Five miles away from Trieste, to the north- 
west, near Grignano, is the Chateau of Miramon, 
formerly occupied by Maximilian, Emperor of 
Mexico. The view from it, of the city, over the 
bay of Trieste, and down . the Adriatic, is superb. 
The gardens and grounds are exquisite. The 
mountains shelter the chateau from the north 
winds, and the breezes of the sea cool it in 
summer. Maximilian was rear-admiral of the 
Austrian navy, and, before his unfortunate adven- 
ture in Mexico, usually resided in Trieste. A 
monument was erected to him there, in the beautiful 
Piazza Guiseppino. 

At Trieste I took passage on an Austrian Lloyd 
steamer for Corfu. The spring weather was fine, 
and the moon was nearly at the full. The Adriatic 
Sea, usually rough, and sometimes dangerous, with 
fierce north-west winds, in winter, was placid as a 
river. The boat was not at all crowded, for it 
was the season of the year when everybody was 
coming north from Egypt, the Holy Land, and 
Greece, and very few were traveling south. 

The view of Trieste, of the bay, the adjacent 
Quarnero Islands, and the peninsula of Istria, as 



150 A WINDING JOURNEY 

we sailed away, was beautiful as a pleasant dream, 
heightened by the incipient haze of the warm 
springtime, when there is a "deeper red on the 
robin's breast." There was not a ripple on the 
sea. The setting sun and the great rising moon 
illumined the rugged coast and the mountains in 
the background. 

On the left, coming down to the sea, between 
the Carnic Alps and the Julian Alps, is Croatia, 
In earliest times inhabited by Pannonlans, conquered 
by Augustus Caesar, in the highway of northern 
tribes breaking into the later Empire. Although a 
part of Hungary, Croatia turned loose Its warlike 
population on the Magyars, In the revolution of 
1848-9. The atrocities of the Ban, at that time, 
are not yet forgotten. The House of Hapsburg 
has reason to feel grateful to the Croatians. 

Further on is Dalmatia, the fartherest Austrian 
land, on the borders of Turkey, with its barren 
mountains rising dark against the eastern horizon, 
with numerous rocky Islands In the foreground, 
behind which small ships find shelter from the 
north-west blasts. Considerable streams break 
through the mountains and fall seaward over cas- 
cades that send a gleam of silver even to our 
ship. The inhabitants are fierce, brigandish, and 
given to drunkenness. Italians still predominate, 
although Slavs become more numerous than In 
Trieste and Croatia. The Dalmatian soldiers are 
brave and faithful to their engraofements. The 
Slavonians conquered the country from the Goths, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 151 

and six centuries later had to give it up to the 
Hungarians, who in turn were despoiled of it by 
the Turks and Venetians. The Venetian part of 
it was passed over, by the Treaty of Campo-Fornio, 
to Austria. Again it was annexed, after its cession 
to Napoleon, successively to the Kingdom of Italy 
and to Illyria. It was returned to Austria when 
the battle of Waterloo caused the reconstruction 
of the map of Europe. 

Farther on, the little Kingdom of Montenegro 
now comes down to the Adriatic, in the district 
around the port of Antivari, since the treaty of 
Berlin. The very name of the country, in the 
native tongue, and in its Italian translation, means 
" Black Mountain." The inhabitants are Slavs, 
belonging to the Greek Church. The Russians 
paid their public debt more than a century ago, 
and allow the Prince about $7,000 a year, on 
condition of harrassing their common enemy, the 
Turk. Montenegro can raise an army of more 
than thirty thousand splendid fighting men. The 
mountains beyond Antivari looked dark and grand, 
from the deck of the steamer. In San Francisco, 
which is a rendezvous of all nations, there is a 
colony of Montenegrins. 

The long coast of Albania marks the south- 
western boundary of Turkey on the Adriatic Sea. 
The famed Acroceraunian promontory, lofty, deso- 
late, suggestive of storms, is a conspicuous object 
from afar. Northern Albania occupies the site of 
the Roman Illyria; southern Albania, the site 



152 A WINDING JOURNEY 

of the Greek Epirus. I noticed that along the 
ancient Epirotic coast there are no habitations, not 
even huts of fishermen. The lofty mountain slopes, 
facing the sea, are barren, and any narrow reaches 
of flat land along the shore are malarial marshes. 
The Albanians are the best soldiers in the Turkish 
army. They are brave, hardy, half-civilized, more 
given to robbery than to tilling the earth, constantly 
at feud with one another, and fanatical Mohamedans, 
though once nominally Christians. They are excel- 
lent seamen and furnish many of the Austrian Lloyd 
steamers with officers and crews. Our captain was 
an Albanian, well-trained in his profession, speaking 
all the languages of the Levant, polite to his pas- 
sengers, and severe with his subordinates. A slice 
of Albania, south of Atra, was ceded to Greece by 
Turkey, after the Berlin Congress, under pressure of 
the western powers. 

As we sailed out of the Adriatic into the 
Ionian Sea, through the Straits of Otranto, the 
shore of Italy, the coast of Albania, and the Island 
of Corfu (the ancient Corcyra), were in full view. 
That was the ancient crossing-place between Roman 
and Greek territory. Clearly to be seen were the 
starting and landing place of the great Caesar 
when he went to meet Pompey, on the field 
of Pharsalia, where was decided the empire of 
the world. Brundusium and Dyrrhachium were 
the Dover and Calais of antiquity, and the 
sight of both at the same time, from the deck 
of a modern steamship, on a clear afternoon, 




•^jAj^r endamoucH A. > 



ALBANIAN. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 153 

filled the mind with visions of two thousand 
years ago. 

The Bay of Corfu, from which there is no 
visible outlet to the sea, looks like a magnificent 
lake surrounded by lofty mountains that are mir- 
rored, especially as evening approaches, in its placid 
waters. The mountains on the Albanian side are 
rocky and barren. On the Corcyrean side the 
mountains are dark with forests of cypress, olive, 
and ilex. There is no lovelier spot on the wide 
earth. The island is shaped something like a 
sickle, forty miles long, twenty miles wide at the 
northern end, running narrower toward the southern 
point. The convex side is turned towards the Ionian 
Sea. The winding strait between the island and 
the shore, on the east, varies from two and a half 
miles wide, at the entrance from the Straits of 
Otranto, to a dozen miles, as one leaves it for the 
south. As Homer sang, the island is — 

" Spread like a shield upon the dark blue sea ! " 

Corfu, for ages, was a gateway between the 
East and the West. It is the key to the 
Adriatic Sea, and many nations have fought for 
its possession. Corinth sent there a colony, which 
flourished and extended its dominion over neigh- 
boring places. The prospering colony and the 
mother city, becoming rivals in trade, finally came 
to blows on the sea. This earliest naval battle of 
the world was fought twenty-five hundred years 
ago. Two centuries later Corcyra invoked the 



154 A -wmDrnG journey 

aid of Athens against the Corinthians and thus 
became the occasion, if not the cause, of the 
Peloponesian war. Its somber heights looked 
down upon the review of the splendid fleet des- 
tined to perish in the harbor of Syracuse, in 
the great naval conflict so vividly described by 
Thucydides. In view of its heights, four centuries 
later, on the waters of Actium, a world was lost 
and won. Long afterwards, the Crusaders seized 
Corfu and its fruitful soil was trod by Robert 
Guiscard and Richard I. of England. The Byzan- 
tine Emperors and the Princes of the House of 
Anjou alternately possessed it, till it passed into 
the hands of Venice, in 1386, where it remained 
till 1797. The Turks tried desperately to get 
possession of it. The High-Admiral of Turkey, 
with sixty ships, and the General-in-Chief, with 
thirty thousand picked troops, laid siege to Corfu 
in 1 716, but were repulsed with terrible loss, and 
the Sultan beheaded them for their failure. A' 
statue of Schulemberg, the brave defender, stands 
to-day on the esplanade of the city, erected by 
the Venetian senate. With the rest of the Ionian 
Islands, Corfu was seized by Russia and Turkey 
in 1800, by France in 1807, and by Britain in 
1809. In 181 5 it became, under British rule, part 
of the Septinsular, or Ionian Republic, till it was 
ceded to Greece in 1864. 

I had no time to explore the island and seek 
out its many points of beautiful view. Somehow, 
I preferred to gaze in imagination on the dark 



AEOUND THE WOELD. 155 

Stream of time flowing swiftly past, freighted with 
the debris of three thousand years of human his- 
tory. In rather an exalted mood, I chose to take 
the side of Homer, against the modern critics, and 
regard Corcyra as the real home of Alcinous and 
the Phceacians, who treated Ulysses so hospitably 
and sent him in a swift ship to his native Ithaca. 
Scheria, the name used by Homer, was identified 
by the ancients generally with Corcyra. Why 
should we presume to know better than they, who 
were to the manor born? The antiquary tells me 
in vain that a tiny rock in the sea, not far from 
the shore, still pointed out as the Phoeacian ship 
returning from its voyage with Ulysses to Ithaca, 
blasted and petrified by the angry Poseidon and 
fastened to the bottom, cannot be that or any 
other ship, I know that as well as he. But the 
imagination, just as faithful to truth as the logical 
faculty, seizes upon a natural object and a fancied 
resemblance and with them associates a tradition 
that has a remote origin in reality. How came a 
hundred generations of men, one after another, 
to think of such an event at all when seeing 
such a tiny, ship-shaped rock in the sea? The 
readers of Homer, half-a-dozen centuries before 
the Christian era, were not children nor dunces. 
Not one of them believed that the tiny rock 
was the petrified Phoeacian ship that bore Ulysses 
to Ithaca; but all did believe, and they were not 
an over credulous and uncultivated race, that the 
Homeric Scheria was really Corcyra, the home of 



156 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the Phoeacians, that they nobly entertained the 
hero returning by devious ways from the siege of 
Troy, and sent him to his neighboring island-home 
rejoicing. 

"And even as on a plain a yoke of four stallions 
comes springing altogether beneath the lash, leaping 
high and speedily accomplishing the way, so leaped 
the stern of that ship, and the dark wave of the 
sounding sea rushed mightily in the wake, and 
she ran ever surely on her way, nor could a circling 
hawk keep pace with her, of winged things the 
swiftest. Even thus she lightly sped and cleft 
the waves of the sea, bearing a man whose 
counsel was as the counsel of the gods, one that 
erewhile had suffered much sorrow of heart, in 
passing through the wars of men, and the grievous 
waves. . . . And now the vessel in full course 
ran ashore, half her keel's length high . . . and 
first they lifted Odysseus from out the hollow 
ship. . . . Then themselves departed home- 
ward again. But the shaker of the earth forgot 
not the threats wherewith at the first he had 
threatened the godlike Odysseus. . . . Then 
nigh her came the shaker of the earth, and he 
smote her into a stone, and rooted her far below 
with the down-stroke of his hand." — {Od., xiii.y 8i^ 

After leaving Corfu, Corcyra, or the Homeric 
Scheria, we passed Paxo (Paxos) and the rocky 
islet of Antipaxos, noted for myriads of quail in 
the springtime, which are consequently the delight 
of sportsmen. Cephalonia (Cephalenia) next came 



AROUND THE WORLD. 157 

in sight, the largest of the Ionian Islands, noted 
for a dark mountain crowned with a forest of 
pine, from which the view is said to be very fine. 
It looked magnificent in the morning sun. The 
polite captain of the boat also directed my atten- 
tion to Leucadia, or Santa Maura, to the northward 
and eastward, which is called an island, for it is 
separated from the main land by a narrow and 
shallow lagoon. A headland projecting into the 
outer sea is called Sappho's Leap. It is, as Tom 
Moore sings : 

"The very spot where Sappho sung 
Her swan-like music, ere she sprung 
(Still holding in that fearful leap 
B7 her loved lyre) into the deep, 
And dying quenched the fatal fire, 
At once of both her heart and lyre." 

All of which is, to my mind, much more apochryphal 
than King Alcinous and his Phoeacians in Corcyra. 
The captain seemed to regard it as a goodj joke 
when I proposed that we sail over there in search 
of Sappho's remains, and also to get a view of 
Ambracia's Gulf — 

"... Where once was lost 
A world for woman." 

Both the ancient and modern history of Paxos, 
Cephalonia, and Leucadia have been sufficiently 
indicated in the previous account of Corfu. 

To the eastward of Cephalonia was in view the 
island of Ithaca, the home of the great Ulysses, 
or Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey. 



158 A WINDING JOURNEY 

"As one that for a weary space has lain 

Lulled by the song of Circe and her wine 
In gardens near the vale of Proserpine, 
Where that ^sean isle forgets the main, 
And only the low lutes of love complain, 
. And only shadows of wan lovers pine. 

As such an one were glad to know the brine 
Salt on his lips, and the large air again, 
So gladly, from the songs of modern speech 
Men turn, and see the stars, and feel the free 
Shrill wind beyond the close of heavy flowers 
And through the music of the languid hours. 
They hear like ocean on a western beach 
The surge and thunder of the Odyssey." 

Ithaca is a ridge of limestone, seventeen miles 
long, four miles wide, at the widest, rising into 
barren heights, with a population of twelve thousand. 
It is one of the most interesting islands of Greece, 
on account of the Homeric descriptions of Ulysses' 
home. As I could not go on to it and make 
original observations, I will not undertake to 
repeat modern descriptions made by Schliemann, 
Wordsworth, Mure, Sir William Gell, Bunbury, 
and others. It will be sufficient to take some 
descriptive passages from the Odyssey, in which 
Homer pictures the home of his hero, and tells 
us how, to use the language of Cicero, "the wisest 
of men preferred even to immortality that Ithaca, 
which is fixed, like a bird's nest, among the most 
rugged of rocks." 

Telemachus says to the son of Atreus, rejecting 
a gift of horses: "In Ithaca there are no wide 
courses, nor meadow land at all. It is a pasture- 
land of goats, and more pleasant in my sight than 



AROUND THE WORLD. 159 

one that pastureth horses ; for of the isles that He 
and lean upon the sea, none are fit for the driving 
of horses, or rich in meadow-land, and least of all 
is Ithaca."^ {Od., iv., 6oj). "Then the goddess, 
gray-eyed Athene, spake to him again : ' Thou art 
witless, stranger, or thou art come from afar, if, 
indeed, thou askest of this land ; nay, it is not so 
very nameless but that many men know it, both 
all those who dwell toward the dawning and the 
sun, and they that abide over against the light 
towards the shadowy west. Verily it is rough and 
not fit for the driving of horses, yet it is not a 
very sorry isle, though narrow withall. For herein 
is corn past telling, and herein too wine is found, 
and the rain is on it evermore, and the fresh dew. 
And It is good for feeding goats and feeding kine ; 
ail manner of wood is here, and watering-places 
unfailing are herein. Wherefore, stranger, the 
name of Ithaca hath reached even unto Troyland, 
which men say is far from this Achaean shore.'" 
(Od.f xiii., 242). " I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, 
who am in men's minds for all manner of wiles, 
and my fame reaches unto heaven. And I dwell 
in clear-seen Ithaca, wherein is a mountain, Neriton, 
with trembling forest leaves, standing manifest to 
view, and many Islands lie around, very near one 
to the other. Dulichium and Same, and wooded 
Zacynthos. Now Ithaca lies low, furthest up the 
sea-line toward the darkness, but those others face 



1. Here, as elsewhere, I use the exact and spirited version of Butcher «fe Lang. 



160 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the dawning and the sun : a rugged Isle, but a 
good nurse of noble youths; and for myself I 
can see nought beside sweeter than a man's own 
country." {Od., ix., if). " But come, and I will 
show the place of the dwelling of Ithaca, that 
thou mayest be assured. Lo ! here is the haven 
of Phorcys, the ancient one of the sea, and here 
at the haven's head is the olive-tree with spreading 
leaves, and hard by it is the pleasant cave and 
shadowy, sacred to the nymphs that are called the 
Naiads. Yonder, behold, is the roofed cavern, 
where thou offeredst many an acceptable sacrifice 
of hecatombs to the nymphs ; and lo ! this hill is 
Neriton, all clothed in forests. {Od., xiu., ^5.) 

From the heights of Ithaca may be seen the 
open water-space where was fought the famous 
naval battle of Lepanto ; where the battle of 
Actium was fought, sixteen centuries earlier, for 
the empire of the world. The battle of Lepanto 
was not fought in the Gulf of Corinth, but off the 
Echinades — 

" Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea," 

which are between Ithaca and the main land. Pope 
Pius v., Philip II. of Spain, and the Venetians 
united in opposing the unspeakable Turks after 
their capture of Cyprus. The Christian fleet was 
under command of Don John of Austria, the 
natural son of Charles V. The Turkish fleet num- 
bered 230 galleys. The forces were nearly equal 
on both sides. The battle, which took place 



AKOUND THE WOKLD. 161 

October 6, 15 71, was long, fierce, and bloody. 
The Turks lost 25,000 men and 200 galleys. 
Perhaps the most gratifying part of the victory 
was the liberation of 15,000 Christian slaves who 
were found chained to the oars in the Ottoman 
galleys. The loss of the allies was great, but the 
victory was decisive, and the Turkish naval power 
never recovered from the disaster. 

We next passed Zante (Zacynthus), the flower 
of the Levant, the fragrance of whose vineyards, 
gardens, and orange groves, floats far seaward in 
the spring time. The Homeric description of 
"woody" Zacynthus is still true after three thousand 
years. I recalled that Vesalius, the founder of 
modern anatomy, is buried here. He was born in 
Brussels, got into trouble in Spain, on account of 
his dissections, was required to make a pilgrimage 
to the Holy Land, as an expiation, and died of 
exhaustion, at Zante, on his return. 

As we sailed southward we were too far off 
from the mainland to see much of the shore of 
the Peloponnesus. With a good glass could be 
discovered the valley of the Alpheus and thus 
located the famed Olympia, where, for nearly 
twelve centuries, were celebrated, at the first full 
of the moon after the summer solstice, every four 
years, the Olympic games, thus forming a thread 
of chronology on which to string the history of 
the world. "To the Olympic games," says W. G. 
Clark, "we owe not merely the odes of Pindar, 
but the chronology of all history, literary or political. 



162 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Amid all the intricacies or complications of fortune 
in the component States, in spite of pestilence and 
war, the Olympic festival recurred with the regularity 
of a solar phenomenon." 

Farther on, however, we approached the shore 
of Messenia, whose plains were famed in earliest 
times for fertility. In two bitter wars with Sparta, 
the Messenians were beaten and many of them 
sailed away to Sicily, where they founded a colony 
on the present site of Messina. On the call of 
Epaminondas, three hundred years afterwards, many 
of their descendants joyfully returned. 

Turning Cape Matapan, the ancient Toenarium 
Promontory, the most southern point of the 
European Continent, we came upon the island of 
Cerigo (Corcyra), the favorite dwelling-place of 
Venus, where she was received when she arose 
from the sea. The Phoenicians had there a purple 
fishery of such magnitude that heaps of shells are 
still found at their dye-works. 

On we sailed by the Malea Promontory, called 
by the Italians Capo Diavolo, on account of the 
fierce gales that usually sweep around it from the 
yEgean Sea. We passed it by moonlight, and 
the sea was calm as a river. There "ruinous 
wind" drove Ulysses and his ships ten days away 
to the land of the lotus-eaters. 

Although wearied with looking, remembering, 
thinking, I kept the deck of the ship all the way 
up the eastern coast of the Peloponnesus, the 
modern Morea, to the Piraeus, the port of Athens. 



AEOTJND THE WOULD. 163 

The light of the full moon, In the clear atmosphere, 
added a weird beauty to the Islands and the shore. 
The Bay of NaupHa projected far inland, to the 
town of the same name, which was the capital of 
modern Greece till King Otho went to Athens, in 
1834. A little farther inland, above the apex of 
the bay. Is the site of the ancient city of Argos. 
The harbor is the best and most commodious of 
any in Greece. We coasted along the ancient 
Argolls, the earliest civilized State of Hellas, famed 
for horses, sculptors, and musicians. The lowland, 
near the shore, on the peninsula projecting between 
the Bay of Nauplla, on the south, and the Bay 
of Salamis, on the north. Is an extensive marsh. 
There Hercules, in the Greek mythology, strangled 
the Lernean hydra and overcame the Nemean 
lion. 

As the morning sun illumined the rocky heights 
of Salamis, flashed on the Acropolis, and shone • 
over the hills and plains of Attica, we sailed across 
the very waters where the mighty naval battle was 
fought between the Greeks and Persians more than 
twenty-three centuries ago, into the harbor of 
Piraeus. The curious pointed to a rock, on our 
left, where Xerxes, seated on a throne, witnessed 
the defeat of his fleet and sadly realized that his 
costly expedition had come to nought. 

The harbor of Piraeus is good, but the entrance 
is narrow. The town is new, having been built up 
since 1835. The history of ancient Piraeus can be 
found in the general history of Greece. Of the 



164 A WINDING JOURNEY 

ancient walls, connecting it and Munychia with 
Athens, there are but few remains. A railroad, 
four miles long, to Athens, which conveys one 
there in twenty minutes, is rickety, dusty, and 
uncomfortable. 

I did not stop a moment to look at the 
modern city of Athens. It has been built since 
1835, like modern Piraeus. It is raw as any 
town in California or Australia, without the sump- 
tuous expenditure and magnificence. The King's 
palace is a huge, square, plastered edifice, that 
would not be tolerated in San Francisco or 
Melbourne as a public building. All modern Greece 
is in a state of dilapidation. There are no roads, 
and the products of the country and imported 
goods are carried on the backs of mules and men. 
A few miles of railroad have been constructed to 
nearer points of Interest, but the service is not 
very good. The living Greeks are only a hopeless 
reminiscence of their great ancestors. About two 
millions of them live a sickly life in the narrow 
mountain valleys and around the undralned malarial 
marshes of the scanty lowlands. Two millions more 
are scattered about the Levant, generally engaged 
in trade and commerce, for which they exhibit great 
aptitude. They talk politics very bravely in the 
coffee-houses, but are not very dangerous, except 
as highwaymen. The people are very superstitious 
and all over the land they will destroy the precious 
remains of antiquity for material to build huge 
ugly churches, without a trace of architectural 



AROUND THE WOELD. 165 

beauty, ten times larger than needed. There is 
Httle steady industry, especially in agriculture and 
manufacturing. The public debt is enormous and 
a very large percentage of the heavy taxes is 
squandered, or worse than squandered, in the col- 
lection. There are people of worth and culture 
among the modern Greeks, but they are exceptions 
to the rule. The Greeks of Athens, to-day, are no 
more like the Greeks in the time of Themistocles 
and Pericles than gray night is like the sunny day. 
The people are changed quite as much as the city 
itself. 

The first thing I did was to ascend the Acropolis. 
It was the only thing in Athens that I cared to 
see. The Acropolis is about i,ioo feet in length, 450 
feet in greatest width, and 300 feet at the highest 
point, above the level of the surrounding town. It 
is a solitary rock of semi-crystaline limestone and 
red schist, that doubtless stood above the old 
Pliocene Sea, washed for ages by the waves. The 
brightest race of mankind made it, in the bygone 
centuries, the point of all the world richest in art. 
As one stands upon it, in the midst of desolate 
ruins, and begins to reconstruct in imagination its 
temples, theaters, and statues, if he happens to 
cast his eyes down upon the modern town, he feels 
very much like a peacock glancing at its toes. The 
southern side of the Acropolis is slightly curved 
outward, without indentations or projections, and 
was doubtless the lee side of the rock in the 
Pliocene Sea. The east end terminates in two 



166 A WINDING JOURNEY 

cliffs, with rather a deep indentation between them, 
now partly filled with debris. The north side is 
jagged and steep, and considerable masses of the 
rock have evidently from time to time fallen down. 
The western end slopes downward, and with the 
western part of the southern side forms a natural 
or artificial terrace. 

The view from the top of the Acropolis is 
superb. On the south is the Saronic Gulf, with 
Salamis in the foreground, and JEgina, the fabled 
home of the Myrmidons, in the distance. A 
breeze comes up from the sea, tempering the heat 
of the sun shining "through pelucid air." On 
the south-east is Mount Hymettus, still renowned 
as of yore for its honey. Away to the north- 
east and north is Mount Pentelrcus, where marble 
was quarried for temples and statuary. On the 
north-west is Mount Parnes, dark with forests of 
pine. To the south-west appears Mount yEgaleos, 
near the beautiful Bay of Salamis. Within this 
panorama of distant hills, following the same circuit 
from the south-east round to the south-west, one 
observes the Temple of Olympian Jupiter, begun 
by Peisistratus and finished after seven hundred 
years by Hadrian, of whose 130 columns, in Pentelic 
marble, sixteen still remain ; Hadrian's Triumphal 
Arch, also of Pentelic marble, in the Corinthian 
order; the monument of Lysicrates, called the 
Lantern of Demosthenes ; still nearer, the Prytaneum 
or Senate House ; close by, the ruins of the Theater 
of Bacchus, the proscenium and orchestra well 





ACEOPOUS. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 167 

preserved, built by Hadrian on the site of the 
ancient Theater of Dionysus ; and right at one's 
feet, the remains of a Roman Music Theater, erected 
on the site of the Odeium of Pericles, of which 
no trace has been discovered. Turning to the 
northward, are seen the remains of the Doric 
Temple of Theseus, with six columns on each 
front, thirteen on each flank, and the Tower of 
the Winds, which still has a sun-dial. On the west, 
reversing the order from the nearer to the more 
distant objects, appear, in succession, the Areopagus, 
a steep rock between the Acropolis and the Hill 
of the Nymphs ; then, beyond the Areopagus, the 
Pnyx, where the public assemblies of Athenian 
citizens were held, from which was heard the voices 
of the greatest orators of Greece, where St. Paul 
preached his wonderful sermon ; the prison of 
Socrates, and the tomb of Philopappos, on the 
Museum Hill, with its ruined walls, beyond which 
was the Academy, where Plato taught. In the 
valley of the Illissus, which winds around the 
southern side of the city to the west, may be 
observed the modern villa and gardens of Ilissia, 
on the site of the ancient Lyceium, where Aristotle 
had his school. On the west of the city is the 
little river Cephissus, running south, in the valley 
of which the great dramatist, Sophocles, spent 
his youth. " Sophocles was born," says the 
historian Curtius, "in the suburban district of 
Colonus, . . . and grew up amongst the rural 
beauties of the Cephissus, under the shade of 



168 A WINDESTG JOURNEY 

sacred olive-trees, the witnesses of the earliest 
national history, but at the same time in the 
neighborhood of the busy capital, near the sea, 
which he overlooked from the rocky height." 

The Acropolis was the citadel of Athens, and 
to the natural defense of the steep sides of the 
rock were added walls at different periods. One 
can still see remains of walls 'built by Themistocles, 
Conon, and Valerian. Even fragments of Pelasgic 
walls may be found. At the western end one passes 
through the ruins of the Propylaea, built as a 
worthy gateway to the enclosure leading up to the 
Parthenon. The exquisite little Temple of Athene 
Nike, or Nike Apteros (wingless victory), 27 feet 
long by 18 feet broad, arrests the eye, and is 
seemingly entire. It was removed in 1684, but in 
1835, some enthusiastic antiquaries and students of 
art collected the materials and built them up again 
on the old foundation, which had remained undis- 
turbed. Abundant remains of the Erectheium, the 
most sacred of all the Athenian temples, finished 
by Alcibiades, small, but worthy of an artistic age, 
are standing in the midst of sculptured fragments 
of Pentellc marble. On the highest part of the 
Acropolis stood the ' Parthenon, the finest building 
ever constructed in the world, of which the west 
side still remains. I counted six columns standing 
entire at the Posticum. Eight columns on the 
front, and seventeen on the sides, of the Cella also 
remain. The Turks used it as a powder-house, and 
it was blown up during a bombardment in 1687. 



AEOmSTD THE WORLD. 169 

Nothing remains of the master-work of human 
genius but mournful ruins. My eyes have never 
beheld a sadder sight. 

I have endeavored to describe, in meager outline, 
the Acropolis and the wonderful panorama visible 
from its summit, as they exist to-day. Nature has 
not changed. All else is crumbling rapidly into 
final decay. 

I sat down in the midst of the ruins and tried 
to reconstruct in imagination the Acropolis as it 
existed during the closing years of Pericles' life. 
The vision was gorgeous, but doubtless very wide 
of the 'reality. Instead of attempting to translate 
my day-dream into words, I shall serve my readers 
more faithfully by copying some paragraphs from 
Curtius, who, among the historians of Greece, has 
best understood her plastic arts. 

Recounting the glories . of the age of Pericles, 
summing up the achievements of mighty men of 
genius in every department of intellectual activity, 
he says : " All these men — philosophers and his- 
torians, orators and poets, of whom every individual 
marks an epoch in the progress of art and science, 
were not only contemporaries, but fellow-inhabitants 
of a single city ; partly born in it and nourished 
from youth up in the glories of their native town, 
partly attracted hither by these glories ; nor did they 
remain standing merely externally by the side of 
one another, but worked consciously or unconsciously, 
for the accomplishment of a great common cause. 
For, whether they were personally intimate or not 



170 A WINDING JOUENEY 

with the great statesman, the center of the Attic 
world, or whether they were even among his adver- 
saries, they yet could not but help essentially to 
support him in the accomplishment of the task of 
his life, viz. : the elevation of Athens to the 
position of the intellectual capital of Greece. Here 
the p-erms of culture introduced from foreiofn 
countries acquired new vitality ; the Ionic study 
of foreign countries and nations became the art of 
historical writing, as soon as Herodotus came into 
contact with Athens ; at Athens the Peloponnesian 
Dithyrambus was developed into tragedy, and the 
farce of Megara into comedy ; the philosophers of 
Magna Grsecia and Ionia met in Athens, in order 
there to supplement one another, and prepare the 
growth of an Attic philosophy; even sophistry was 
nowhere turned to so profitable an account as at 
Athens. While formerly every country, every town, 
or island of Hellas had its separate school and 
tendency, now all vigorous tendencies of mind 
crowded together at Athens ; the local and tribal 
differences of character and dialect were reconciled 
with one another; and as the drama, the most 
Attic of all branches of art, received with it all 
the earlier forms, in order to combine them for the 
purpose of an organic co-operation, so there grew 
out of • the union of all the acquisitions of the 
Hellenic intellect a universal culture, which was 
Attic and national-Greek at the same time. How- 
ever greatly the other States opposed the political 
preponderance of Athens, yet no one could but 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 171 

perceive that here, where ^schylus, Sophocles, 
Herodotus, Zeno, Anagoras, Protagoras, Crates, 
and Cratinus were beheld working in unison, was 
the common hearth of all higher efforts, the heart 
of the whole fatherland, a Hellas in Hellas." 

"The most important scene," again says the 
historian, "on which Pericles and Phidias developed 
their creative genius was the citadel. , , . The 
most sacred spot on the citadel was at all times 
the double sanctuary of Poseidon and Athene, 
on the northern rim of the flat of the citadel, 
where the priests of the house of the Butadae 
administered the worship of the divinities united 
under one roof. . . . We are without any 
information as to the measures which were taken 
in the aee of Pericles for the adornment of 
this the national sanctuary proper of Attica (the 
Erectheium, the ruins of which have already been 
mentioned). At all events the principal attention 
was directed to another structure, viz., to the 
splendid restoration of the Hecatompedon (the 
Parthenon). ... It was not intended to build 
an edifice which should attract attention by the 
colossal nature of its proportions or the novelty 
of its style. The traditions of the earlier building 
were followed, and its dimensions were not extended 
more than 50 feet. In a breadth of 100 feet the 
edifice extended, in the form of a temple, 226 feet 
from east to west; and the height, from the lowest 
stair to the apex of the pediment, amounted to 
only 65 feet. 



172 A WINDING JOURNEY 

"Through the hall of Doric columns surrounding 
the whole edifice, the visitor, coming from the east, 
approached the entrance-hall, of six columns ; from 
which again a lofty portal of bronze led into the 
interior space, the Hecatompedon properly so-called, 
which was by a double row of columns divided 
lengthwise into three naves. Above was a second 
series of columns, forming a double gallery and 
supporting the stone ceiling. This ceiling, however, 
instead of extending over the whole length of the 
cella, was partly open, and admitted sufficient light 
from above to illuminate the entire space. Next 
to this cella, lOO feet deep, was the back part of 
the building (the Opisthodomos), an equilateral 
hall, with four columns, opening into the western 
entrance-hall. 

"The architectonic spaces adorned with sculptures 
were of a threefold kind ; and a corresponding dis- 
tinction as to style and execution also prevailed 
among the sculptures themselves. The grandest 
of these spaces was the great triangle formed by 
the oblique ledges of the roof on the shorter, i. e., 
the east and west fronts of the building. The 
area of these pediments was filled with colossal 
sculptures. . . . The area of the pediment on 
the east side was filled by the assembly of the 
Olympian gods, encircled by the divinities of day- 
light and night. In the midst of the Olympians 
appears Athene, new-born but perfectly matured, 
beautiful, and fully armed, by the side of her 
father Zeus, the luminous center of the great 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 173 

assembly; upon whom the gods and goddesses on 
either side gaze in wondering admiration. The 
western pediment, on the other hand, is marked 
out as Attic ground by the divinities of Attic 
rivers, who, as recumbent figures in the corners, 
bound the entire group. In the midst stands 
Athene, by the side of Poseidon ; the former 
accompanied by her following of Attic national 
divinities, the latter by the daemons of the sea. 
They have been contending against one another 
for the prize of Athens. The contest is decided ; 
the more savage god has to give way; but the 
fortunate land, the possession of which is an object 
of envy among the immortal gods, has received 
the gifts of unperishing significance from either 
combatant, and to it even the contest has in the 
end brought blessings. Under the roof of the 
temple extends the architrave, which was adorned 
on either side by gold escutcheons on the two 
flank sides ; and over this the trygliph frieze. The 
surface of the metopes, let in between the trygliph 
blocks, were throughout adorned with sculptures, 
forming ninety-two tablets, nearly square in shape, 
each of which required a composition complete in 
itself. Phidias generally chose groups of com- 
batants; battles between the divinities, particularly 
between Athene and the Gigantes; battles of the 
Heroes, fighting as the prototypes of the youths 
of Attica, with their whole strength against the 
powers of rude force opposed to moral order in 
the life of the State — such as the Amazons, who 



174 A WINDma JOURNEY 

are hostile to marriage, and the Centaurs, the 
disturbers of peace and the robbers of women, the 
foes of Theseus, the founder of order and law. 
But the deeds of peace were also represented, such 
as the establishment of sacred statutes on which 
the religious system of Attica was based. 

" Finally, within the circuit of columns a frieze 
passed along the outer walls of the cella, encircling 
them like a narrow band in a length of 528 feet. 
For a space of this kind no representation could 
be better adapted than that of a continuous pro- 
cession of many figures — of a festive procession 
naturally connected with the building. Hence the 
panathenaean procession could be made use of for 
the purpose. It was not, however, intended to 
give a faithful description of it in marble. This 
would have deprived the inventive artist of freedom 
of selection ; solemn but wearisome repetition would 
have been inevitable ; and any representation of 
the kind would have, as a feeble imitation, fallen 
below the living reality. A representation of the 
preparations for the great festive procession appeared 
incomparably more imposing ; for it offered evidence 
of the serious purpose animating the Athenians in 
the celebration of their festivals of State. Thus 
it became possible to introduce in a natural manner 
the groups of horsemen and four-horse chariots, 
the band of sacrificers and musicians, the ministerinof 
personages, . . . and the officers of State, 
whose duty it was to superintend and regulate the 
whole. The gods themselves are seated in confi- 



AROUND THE WOKLD. 175 

dentlal proximity among the people, which honors 
them with so solemn an ardor. 

"These grand temple-sculptures display to us 
in full figures and in relief the plastic art of Attica, 
with the peculiar character impressed upon it by 
Phidias. In the sculptures in relief a clear dis- 
tinction of style is equally recognizable. For from 
the surface of the metapes the gymnastic figures 
spring out in vigorous alto-relievo, so that their 
bodies occasionally stand forth perfectly free from 
the background ; while on the frieze, on the other 
hand, the figures rise only a few lines breadth from 
the surface, and the eye glances along them &,s 
along a drawing. We have here the gentle flow 
of an epic representation ; while in the groups of 
the pediments our eye is met by dramatic move- 
ment, culminating in a highly significant phase of 
action. 

. . . "The design of the Hecatompedon had 
included the erection in the latter of a new statue 
of Athene; a work of colossal splendor, destined 
to call forth astonishment and admiration, and to 
bear full witness to the wealth of a great trading 
city, to the flourishing culture of arts within her 
walls, and to the union of religious and political 
feelings animating her citizens. Therefore simple 
materials were disdained, and the most splendid of 
all species of plastic representations chosen — the 
work in gold and ivory. . . . The mild luster 
of the plates of ivory forming the nude parts of 
the surface was heightened by the effulgency of 



176 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the gold ; the selection of the variegated precious 
stones for the eyes, the coloring of the hair, the 
distribution of light and shade in the arrangement 
of the drapery — all this and much else required 
the experienced artistic taste of a painter. 

" Such a work of art — of sculpture, architecture, 
and painting combined — was the Athene of Phidias. 
She is the goddess of the Athenians' hohie ; 
therefore the serpent of the citadel, the symbol of 
the land, was seen winding his coils on her left; 
she is the warlike goddess, with helmet, shield and 
spear, and the brighter victory, with a figure of 
Nice on her stretched-out right hand ; but her 
attitude is calm and peaceable, not bold or pro- 
vocative ; with bent brow she casts a calm and 
collective glance before her; alone" she stands, but 
needing no helper; her features are gentle and 
open ; and her helmet, under which the ample locks 
flow forth, is marked by the symbols of sphinx 
and griffins, signifying power of thought and quick- 
ness of intelligence. Hence this Athene was no 
allegorical figure (like those by which in ancient 
and modern times it has been attempted to personify 
a country or city), but the figure of a goddess, 
who had from the first beginning of the State been 
its protecting deity; but this divine figure was 
endowed with all the great qualities of which 
Athens felt conscious, and with all the virtues 
which were to distinguish the Attic citizen. . . . 

" In order to complete the buildings on the 
Acropolis in a manner worthy of the State, there 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 177 

was needed in the last instance a new entrance- 
portal, which should mark out the entire district 
of the citadel as a festive locality sacred to 
Athene. This, by the side of the Odeum and 
the Hecatompedon or Parthenon, constituted the 
third great architectural creation of Pericles, viz., 
the halls of the portal, or Propylaea, together with 
the staircase ascending to them. The architect of 
. the Propylaea was Mnesicles. His task was to 
span the western end of the rock of the citadel, 
where alone the latter is accessible, with an edifice 
intended to complete the boundary line of the 
citadel at its narrowest point, but at the same time 
to provide it with a worthy and solemn beginning. 
A row of Doric columns, with a pediment in the 
form of a temple, received the visitor on ascending. 
He next entered a hall fifty feet deep, whose 
splendid marble roof was supported by six Ionic 
columns. This hall was shut by a wall running 
horizontally across it, and with five gates of lattice- 
work, forming the entrance (open or closed at will) 
to the citadel. Passing out of this, the visitor 
again entered another Doric hall of six columns, 
and through it the inner space of the citadel. 
From the right and left side of the central building 
of the Propyloea, the portal proper, a wing pro- 
jected to the right and left, for the purpose 
of completing the edifice bounding the work of 
the citadel; the northern wing comprehended the 
chamber painted with frescoes by Polygnotus, the 
Pinacothece. Either wing opened by halls of 



178 A WINDING JOURNEY 

columns towards the broad open staircase, which 
led in a gentle ascent to the hall of the portal 
and united the upper with the lower city. 
The Acropolis opened its hospitable galleries of 
columns to all who wished to visit the temples and 
festivals of the Athenians ; rising from the lower 
city, as the crown of the whole, like a great 
dedicatory offering, with its colossi, temples, and 
halls, and with the marble edifice of the Propylaea 
shining like a precious frontlet on its brow." 

I hastened away from the mournful ruins of 
the Acropolis to the Piraeus, there to take ship for 
Constantinople. Not the least mournful of the 
ruins of Athens, as it exists to-day, is the popula- 
tion, the modern Greeks themselves. The wonder 
is that so much of them still remains after two 
thousand years of despoliation and bitter oppression. ' 
The Israelites alone have suffered more during all 
the centuries of the Christian era. The weary 
traveler speedily becomes impatient of them, but 
his mood easily turns to one of pity and sympathy. 
I have little hope of their future, yet no man more 
heartily wishes that their dreams of rehabilitation 
might be realized. 

We sailed out into the ^gean Sea between the 
promontory of Sunium and the island of Zea. The 
boat was crowded, and the wind soon freshened 
into a gale. Tired nature asserted her dominion 
and I slept away the journey past the islands of 
Andros, Chios, Skyros, and Lemnos, and did not 
see them at all. The next morning- the sun shone 



AEOUND THE "WOULD. 179 

on Mount Olympus, far to the west, and illuminated 
Mount Ida, to the eastward, on the Asiatic shore. 
In the foreground was Tenedos, from which the 
serpent crossed over and crushed Laocoon and his 
sons, in sight of the Greek camp on the plains of 
Troy. Somehow, I was dreadfully weary and could 
not arouse myself to the pitch of enthusiasm over 
the scenes of the Iliad. The reaction of an over- 
strained imagination had come on me, and I felt 
very indifferent about the wrath of Achilles, or 
the fate of Priam. It seemed to me that the gods 
on Olympus or Ida might have been in better 
business than bothering their heads about a Trojan 
dude who had run off with the giddy wife of a 
Grecian kino-let. 

o 

" Homer, thy song men liken to the sea, 
With every note of music in its tone, 
With tides that wash the dim dominion 
Of Hades, and the light waves that laugh in glee 
Around the iles enchanted." 

I was not seasick myself, but scenes of distressing 
seasickness all around me did not dispose my mind 
to the enjoyment of epic poetry, even in full sight 
of Troy. 

As we entered the Dardanelles, a channel forty 
miles long, from less than a mile to four miles wide, 
running from the Sea of Marmora to the Grecian 
Archipelago, separating Asia and Europe, the waves 
subsided and the passengers came out to sun them- 
selves, looking fairly cheerful. The channel is 
strongly fortified on both sides. By a treaty between 



180 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the five great powers and Turkey, in 1841. it was 
stipulated that no ship of war, unless belonging 
to Turkey, should pass the Dardanelles without 
Turkey's consent. The stipulation was renewed at 
London in 1871, and at Berlin in 1878. Merchant 
ships must also show their papers to the Turkish 
authorities. Opposite to Sestos, in Europe, near 
Abydos, in Asia, Xerxes crossed the Dardanelles 
by two bridges. Near the same points Alexander 
the Great crossed the other way. It was there that 
Leander swam across to visit Hero. It was at the 
same place that Lord Byron swam the channel, to 
show that there was nothing improbable in the 
story of Leander and Hero. 

We were detained at Gallipoli and did not 
enter the Sea of Marmora till after nightfall. I 
slept off the journey, and slowly we entered the 
Golden Horn the following morning. 



n 




ABOUND THE WORLD. 181 



CHAPTER V. 

CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE EASTERN QUESTION. 

'he Bosphorus enters the Sea of Marmora 
directly from the north. We passed the 
.:. SeragHo Point about two miles from the sea. 
There the magnificent panorama of Constantinople 
broke in its completeness upon the view. The 
Golden Horn, a narrow bay, was seen extending 
inland, to the northwest, five or six miles. The 
farther end bends round to the right, somewhat 
like a horn ; hence the name of the inlet, or bay, 
which, with its deep water, forms a magnificent 
harbor. From the mouth of it you look up the 
Bosphorus, which comes down with a current like 
a river from the north-east. You look back a 
couple of miles, due south, upon the Sea of 
Marmora. South of the Golden Horn is the 
essentially Turkish part of Constantinople, Stam- 
boul, or Istamboul, on an isthmus between the 
Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmora. As the 
shore of that sea trends away to the south-Avest, 
and the shore of the Golden Horn trends to the 
north-west, the peninsula, of which the eastern end 
borders about two miles on the Bosphorus, widens 
out to several miles at the old wall marking the 



182 A -WINDING JOUENEY 

western limits of Stamboul. The roundish, widish 
point of projecting land on the north, between the 
Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, on a flatish reach 
of ground, is the old Venetian Galata, which is 
occupied by merchants, in the Prankish or European 
part of Constantinople. Ascending a hill, about 
250 feet high, from Galata, you reach Pera, where 
dwell ambassadors and European residents. Across 
the Bosphorus, on the Asiatic side, is Scutari, 
which is properly- a suburb of Constantinople. 

The population of Constantinople may be 
600,000; it may be 1,000,000. The Ottomans give 
us no reliable enumeration of inhabitants. 

The whole of Constantinople, west and east of 
the Bosphorus, north and south of the Golden 
Horn, is built on a series of hills two or three 
hundred feet high. This makes the city look very 
picturesque and imposing. At a little distance, from 
the water, one sees the numerous mosques with 
their minarets, the palaces of the Sultan and his 
family, the public buildings of all kinds, and the 
habitations of nobles, and does not see the hovels 
of the poor and the dilapidated structures inter- 
vening on every hand. Distance lends enchantment 
to the view. Stamboul, like Rome, has its seven 
hills. The suburb of Scutari is very much like 
the rest of Constantinople. 

When our steamship dropped anchor In the 
Golden Horn it was immediately surrounded by a 
thousand craft of all sizes and forms, from which 
the boatmen set up a multitudinous howl that 



AHOUND THE WOULD. 183 

echoed from either shore. The Babel of voices 
and tongues beggars all attempts at description. 
The prospect of getting ashore was not very- 
encouraging to an inexperienced traveler. Fortu- 
nately the boatmen were not allowed to come on 
board the ship. They were like a vast pack of 
hungry howling wolves, with no police regulations 
among themselves. The boats ran into one another 
and some of them were turned over. Judging 
by the sound, the Turkish, Armenian, Greek, 
and Albanian vocabularies must be rich in blas- 
phemy. Thieves abounded. Unwary passengers 
who descended the ladder on the side of the ship 
without guidance, were seized by the pirates, who 
fought over them as for prey. They would find 
themselves in one boat and see their satchels dis- 
appearing in another. They were fortunate to 
escape without being maimed. The officers of 
the ship did what they could to take care of the 
passengers, but for certain conceited dunces no 
human forethought could provide. I saw one burly 
Englishman knock down three Turks, who under- 
took to wrest his portmanteau from his hand, then 
shove off in a caique and start for shore alone. 
He was soon arrested by a revenue boat, and 
our captain remarked that they would pick his 
bones clean before letting him go. An ugly Swiss 
governess, who had been home on a visit from a 
Russian general's family in the Crimea, astonished 
everybody by descending alone, cigarette in mouth, 
among the yelling crew of a boat, sharply com- 



184 A WINDING JOUENEY 

manding them to silence in their own tongue, and 
aweing them into obedience by declaring herself 
to be under the protection of the Russian legation. 
I had formed a partnership with two gentlemen, 
one of whom was a Hollander from Java, the 
other of whom I took to be an Englishman from 
India, to disembark together and go to the sarrie 
hotel. We sat down quietly with our traps, smoking 
our pipes, looking at the noisy, motley crowd, 
having given a , steward direction to send to us 
a commissionaire from the Hotel d'Angleterre, 
when he should arrive on board. He made his 
appearance in due time, took charge of our bag- 
gage, and put us on board a comfortable boat. 
We were in skilled and experienced hands and 
felt at our ease. The multitude of boatmen, by 
common consent and habit, did not attempt to 
interfere with the representative of a well-known 
hotel and those under his charge. On our way to 
the custom-house our commissionaire asked us for 
our passports, that he might have them ready and 
thus prevent delay. Myself and the Hollander 
handed him our passports, but the other said he 
had no passport. The experienced commissionaire 
told him it would be impossible to land without 
one. He said he came from a place where pass- 
ports were unknown, but would procure one as 
soon as he could go to the legation of his country 
in Constantinople. Addressing the commissionaire 
in German, which happened to be his native tongue, 
he told him to bakshish him through the hands of 



AROUND THE WORLD. 185 

the Turkish officer, whatever it might cost. "You 
will be detained then," was the response, "till you 
can send to your legation for the necessary papers." 
"Tell the accursed Turk that I am a high German 
official, acting, under the immediate orders of 
Bismarck, and that if he detains me it shall cost 
him his head." The German official, who had 
come up in haste from the eastern shore of Africa, 
spoke English so well that I had mistaken him 
for an Englishman ; and Dutch so well, that our 
friend from Java had mistaken him for a native, 
Hollander. He also spoke Arabic and the tongues 
of several African tribes. The Turkish official eyed 
him keenly while the commissionaire was explaining 
to him, and then passed us all without even requiring 
our baggage to be opened. The bakshish amounted 
to only half-a-dozen francs for all of us. So what 
promised to be a hinderance turned out to be a 
help. 

A short underground railroad took us up the 
hill from Galata to Pera. The ascent is about 250 
feet. A short walk along the Grand Rue Pera 
brought us to the Hotel d'Angleterre. That 
Grand Rue, or street, is about as wide as an 
alley in an American city. Two carriages can 
barely pass one another in it. In order to get out 
of the way of even one carriage, you must press 
up against the houses, with a fair prospect of a 
splashing, if it is at all muddy. There is no side- 
walk and the houses are built out even with the 
edges of the street. Mules and porters with packs 



186 A WINDING JOURNEY 

must in some way be avoided. The narrow way, 
with its strange buildings and the still stranger 
costumes of the crowd that pass to and fro along 
it, is picturesque enough, but the idea of its being 
called a Grand Rue is very funny. 

The front of the famed Hotel d'Angleterre 
looked very much like the gable-end of a low 
livery-stable. On entering it, however, we found 
it spacious, and the rear end, far down the hill- 
side, was six or seven stories high. The views 
from the windows of the rooms on that end, over 
city and sea, were really superb. It was kept by 
a bright little Greek, who was also proprietor 
of the Hotel Royal, on a fine public garden, 
much more attractive externally, but not superior 
within. Two wealthy Americans were at the Hotel 
d'Angleterre when I was there, negotiating to 
furnish the money to rebuild it in the style of the 
best hotels at London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, or 
New York. These men have an interest in many 
of the best hotels in Europe, and their plans will 
doubtless be carried out. 

It was approaching eleven o'clock. At noon 
would take place the grand pageant of the Sultan 
going to a mosque to say his prayers, which would 
not again take place for a week. We ordered a 
carriage and drove rapidly two or three miles to 
the northern outskirts of Pera, and took a place 
in the front row, at a good point, where the 
procession would soon pass. Our commissionaire, 
through whom all orders had to be given to the 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 187 

Turkish coachman, protested and informed us that 
we should soon be driven away, as we had no 
firman, which could only be procured through an 
ambassador. We, however, kept our place, awaiting 
events. It was not long before a fierce-looking 
officer rode up on a fiery steed and ordered us 
away. I bowed to him and with a smile beckoned 
him to the side of the carriage.. A gold half- 
napoleon (a ten-franc piece), dropped deftly into 
his hand, had the effect of decidedly changing his 
manner. He asked me, in good French, to show 
him any piece of paper with writing on it. I 
handed him a letter, from my correspondence 
at the hotel, which he pretended to look at and 
. handed back, with the remark that our permit was 
all right. We kept our good place without further 
disturbance. 

Bakshish, a Persian term for gift, does everything 
at Constantinople. You can offend nobody with it. 
When an ambassador calls on the highest officials 
of the Sublime Porte, he is expected to give the 
attendants who open the door to him a bakshish. 
When he is admitted to audience with the Sultan 
himself, the bakshish must not be omitted. I^ 
was currently reported in diplomatic circles at 
Constantinople, when I was there, that Sir Henry 
Drummond Wolf, the special agent of England in 
negotiating the Anglo-Turkish Convention with 
reference to Egypt, gave the Sultan a bakshish of 
five thousand pounds for signing the document. I 
saw Wolf, but had no means of verifying the 



188 A WINDING JOURNEY 

gossip. It may have been merely an echo of the 
same gossip, when, in London, some months later, 
I heard it stated that Sir Henry Drummond Wolf 
had been unmercifully bantered in Downing-street 
for the loss of his £5,000. If the story is a fiction, 
it points to the fact that bakshish is recognized 
in the highest as well as the lowest quarters at 
Constantinople. 

The palace of the present Sultan is high up 
among the hills, away from the banks of the 
Bosphorus, where the splendid earlier palaces have 
been desecrated by assassinations. Regiments of 
soldiers, the finest in the empire, soon filed into 
the avenues leading to the palace. After them 
came no end of cavalry. The -superb horses filled 
my German friend with admiration. The music of 
the bands was excellent. The military evolutions 
were rapid, intricate and exact. Soon were formed 
two solid walls of soldiers, flanked with cavalry, 
extending from the palace to a neighboring mosque, 
between which the Sultan and his suite rode in 
state. The Sultan was alone in his carriage, with 
his back to the driver. The horses drawing the 
carriage were beautiful as the fabled steeds of the 
sun. The Sultan passed within a hundred feet of 
us and good field-glasses gave us a near view of his 
face, which was handsome yet prematurely old- 
looking, placid, like the faces of all who believe in 
fate. The "brother of the sun and moon" could 
have had little faith in his subjects, or he would 
not hav e found it necessary to protect himself with 



AROUND THE WOULD. 189 

solid military walls while on his way to say his 
prayers. Perhaps the display of a great mass of 
highly-disciplined and well-armed soldiers was in 
part a mere state pageant, but it is a fact 
well known at Constantinople, that the Sultan is 
in constant terror of assassination. I could not 
help thinking of the contrast, when, some months 
later, I saw the aged Kaiser of Germany appear 
on the balcony of his plain palace in Berlin, alone 
with his household, at the daily change of guard, 
and receive the respectful salutations of his subjects 
and strangers who chanced to be on the adjacent 
streets. 

The Sultan was not long at his prayers, and 
returned by the same way. The outside crowd 
dispersed with some confusion and a good deal 
of dust. 

In this connection may be given an incident, 
which will serve as a warning to inexperienced 
travelers in the East. On the ship from the Piraeus 
to Constantinople, I met a German lady, the widow 
of an eminent professor in one of the most 
renowned universities, vivacious, rather fine-looking, 
old enough to travel with safety alone, intelligent, 
abundantly learned, a good linguist, an excellent 
talker, but rather given to criticism. On the boat 
was an Indian prince, the minister of a great rajah, 
with his suite composed of Englishmen and natives. 
The prince was an ungainly-looking gentleman, 
considerably over six feet tall, rather fat and 
weighty. It was soon rumored about the boat 



190 A WINDING JOURNEY 

that he was on his way to Constantinople to wed 
the daughter of a pasha. Credence in the rumor 
was strengthened when, in an almost childlike way, 
he exhibited on' the open deck of the steamer a 
casket containing thirty thousand pounds worth of 
jewelry. The captain, however, soon took charge 
of the casket and locked it up securely in the 
ship's safe. The traveling lady made to me some 
remarks very uncomplimentary to the prince. I 
said to her that some one in the suite of the prince 
might understand German and overhear her, and 
that I should not like to be called on as her 
interlocutor to personally answer for her speech. 
She thanked me politely for my caution. When 
we were in position to view the pageant of the 
Sultan, I noticed the German lady in a carriage 
some distance down the hill, among the unprivileged 
crowd. I asked permission of my companions to 
bring her up and let her occupy the unused seat 
in our carriage. Herr Bismarck's African official 
gave a prompt and decisive refusal. His explanation 
was brief and final. He was standing near when 
the lady made her disparaging remarks concerning 
the Indian prince. Her German words and sarcastic 
tones had struck an ear abnormally acute and alert. 
He seemed to be one of the suite of the prince 
and was speaking English with the rest. Therefore 
he had not been noticed. "That sharp-tongued 
woman, sir, cannot sit in the carriage with me, 
and it was your rebuke administered to her, then 
and there, that caused me to take to you as a 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 191 

traveling companion. And perhaps you remember," 
he added, "when you recounted to a noted ItaHan, 
on board, the rumor that the prince was on the 
way to Constantinople, to marry the young daughter 
of a pasha, that he responded, povera ragazza ! — 
poor girl ! If I had really been one of the prince's 
suite that Italian would have apologized then and 
there, or there would have been a duel when we 
reached the shore." 

On the border between Asia and Europe every 
human speech is sure to be known in a miscel- 
laneous group. In no language can conversation 
be regarded as private. And caustic freedom of 
tongue may be unexpectedly resented. 

We returned to the hotel, lunched hastily, and 
began our exploration of the (iity. We had the 
, subject pretty well studied up in our guide-books, 
which may be called the "crazy-quilts" of informa- 
tion and are necessary companions. We were 
robust and good pedestrians, and therefore chose 
to dispense with a carriage, much to the disgust 
of our commissionaire, or guide, as it is easier 
to call him. We took a street car down the 
hill to the great bridge crossing the Golden Horn 
to Stamboul. Tramways traverse the city in various 
directions and are a ready, cheap, expeditious means 
of getting from place to place. It was Friday, the 
Mohamedan Sabbath. As it was also the last 
week in the Ramadan, the time was propitious for 
observing the worshipers in the mosques. Our 
guide said it was useless to attempt entering the 



192 A WINDESTG JOURNEY 

mosques at such a time without a firman, which 
could only be procured with considerable delay, 
trouble, and expense. We proposed to try the 
efficacy of bakshish. Money for a firman goes to 
the government officials. A small part of it given 
directly to the persons in charge of the mosques 
pleases them better than a piece of official paper. 

Whoever wishes to find especial information on 
the subject of the Mohamedan Ramadan may look 
in the second Surah of the Koran, called "The 
Cow." 

We went first to the remains of the Seraglio 
gardens, which cover the lowest of the seven hills 
of Stamboul. A destroying fire swept over the 
region in 1865. The splendid marble gate. Sublime 
Porte, which opened to the gardens, baths, mosques, 
cypress groves, suites of apartments, government 
offices, and residence of Sultans in former times, 
all enclosed with lofty walls, was still standing intact. 
This gate. Sublime Porte, gave the designation to 
the Ottoman government by which it is still known. 
The Mint, the Vizier's Divan, and some other 
things were spared by the conflagration, but we 
wasted no time m attempting to explore them. 

Close by was the Mosque of St. Sophia, or of 
" Holy Wisdom," which at first was a Christian 
church, dedicated by Constantine II., son of 
Constantine the Great, in a. d. 360. Justinian rebuilt 
it, in the form of a Greek cross, in 532-48. A 
moderate amount of bakshish opened the portals 
to us. It was full of worshipers. It is a gloomy 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 193 

marble basilica, 270 feet by 245 feet, vast in reality, 
looking still vaster by reason of the immense dome, 
115 feet across. Sixteen bronze gates open into 
it. The dome, adorned with mosaic work, was 
illuminated, as alway during the Ramadan, with 
crystal globes and lamps of colored glass. The 
interior is adorned with many pillars; six of green 
jasper, brought from the Temple of Diana at 
Ephesus; eight of porphyry, brought from the 
Temple of the Sun, at Rome, by Constantine, 
where they had been placed by Aurelian ; and 
several from Baalbeck and Delos. The tombs 
of Selim II. and his sons Murad III. and 
Mohammed III. are imposing, and give the place 
an additional look of solemnity. The Mohamedan 
worshipers there, as elsewhere, all bowed with their 
faces towards Mecca. 

We entered three other imperial mosques, 
remaining but a short time in each ; the Amedieh, 
with its six minarets and the largest dome in 
Stamboul, from which pilgrims start for Mecca; 
the Mohamedieh, with two minarets and vast 
dome, with three naves, simple and grand ; the 
Suleimanieh, with cupola seventeen feet higher 
than that of St. Sophia, with beautiful tombs of 
Sultan Soliman, the Magnificent, and his wife 
Roxolana, splendidly adorned with porcelain, with 
exquisitely wrought pulpit and mirah, built out of 
St. Euphemia of Chalcedon ; the Osmanieh, with 
its huge red porphyra sarcophagus, called the tomb 
of Constantine. 
13 



194 A WINDING JOURNEY 

There are in Constantinople i6 imperial mosques, 
150 ordinary ones, and 200 inferior ones. In front 
of every considerable mosque is a large area, sur- 
rounded by a lofty marble colonnade, with gates 
of wrought brass, in the centre of which is a 
marble fountain, at which the worshipers wash 
their hands and feet before going to their prayers. 
Some of these fountains are exceedingly beautiful, 
with arabesque ornaments, and Chinese-like roofs. 
The water is brought from artificial lakes, twelve 
miles away, in the forest of Belgrade, near the 
village of Pyrgos, by means of subterranean aque- 
ducts, constructed with considerable engineering 
skill to overcome the inequalities of ground. 

Within the enclosure of most of the imperial 
mosques are schools, libraries, and hospitals. The 
Turks are not altogether a devil's people. 

Towards evening we descended to the remains 
of the famous Hippodrome, taking in the subter- 
ranean cisterns of Philoxena on the way. They 
are supported by 1000 columns and half filled 
in with earth. The descent is dififiicult and not 
devoid of danger. Corners of the vast subterranean 
ruins were occupied by ominous-looking ropemakers. 
There are several other such caverns in Stamboul, 
originally built as reservoirs for storing water. A 
trap-door through a man-hole from the street above 
into one of these unused and rarely explored cis- 
terns, managed by the initiated, might afford the 
key to many a Byzantine mystery. 

The Hippodrome, begun by Severus and finished 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 195 

by Constantine, was an imitation of the Roman 
Circus. The course has been cleared by the EngHsh, 
and partly railed in. It is 250 by 150 paces. 
Formerly it was two stadia by one, or 1007 ^^^^ by 
503. Still standing there is the obelisk, brought by 
Theodosius the Great from Thebes, of rose-colored 
granite, no feet high, with hieroglyphs thirty 
centuries old. There stood the four famous bronze 
horses, which we saw the other day on the front 
of St. Mark's at Venice, until they were carried 
away by the Venetians in 1294. The Hippodrome 
is in front of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, not 
far from St. Sophia. That tarnished little pillar 
of brass is what remains of the tripod at Delphi, 
that consisted of three twisted serpents made of 
metal taken from the Persians in the battle of 
Plataea. Mohamet II. cut the top off when the 
city was captured. 

The Turks have had the good sense not to revive 
the Hippodrome. It was the most demoralizing 
institution at Constantinople during the existence 
of the empire. The combatants were divided into 
the factions of the "Greens" and the ''Blues," who 
assassinated one another, demoralized men, and 
debauched women. The whole city was divided 
into their partizans, who fought one another with 
more than political fury. " Constantinople," says 
Gibbon, "adopted the follies, though not the vir- 
tues, of ancient Rome ; and the same factions 
which had agitated the circus, raged with redoubled 
fury in the hippodrome. Under the reign of 



196 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Anastasius, this popular frenzy was inflamed by 
religious zeal ; and the greens, who had treacherously 
concealed stones and daggers under baskets of fruits, 
massacred, at a solemn festival, three thousand of 
their blue adversaries. From the capital this pes- 
tilence was diffused into the provinces and cities 
of the East, and the sportive distinction of two 
colors produced two strong and irreconcilable fac- 
tions, which shook the foundations of a feeble 
government. The popular dissensions, founded on 
the most serious interest, or holy pretense, have 
scarcely equaled the obstinacy of this wanton dis- 
cord, which invaded the peace of families, divided 
friends and brothers, and tempted the female sex, 
though seldom seen in the circus, to espouse the 
inclinations of their lovers, or to contradict the 
wishes of their husbands. Every law, either human 
or divine, was trampled under foot, and as long 
as the party was successful, its deluded followers 
appeared careless of private distress or public 
calamity." Roman Empire, Ch. xl. 

After a day of excitement and toil we expected 
to sleep well. Alas, while "tired nature" proposes, 
the howling dogs of Constantinople dispose. There 
are not less than a hundred thousand ownerless 
dogs iij the city. Like other creatures of leisure, 
they turn night into day. You find them during 
the day, everywhere, sleeping, stretched out in 
alleys, on the sidewalks, in doorways, gaunt, ugly, 
pinched with hunger, so lean that the fleas forsake 
them, under foot, protected by the superstition of 



AROUND THE WORLD. 197 

the people, who hold them as sacred and guard 
them from abuse. At night the dogs are abroad, 
and just about the time one feels the desire of 
sleep they set up a multitudinous howl that resounds 
from end to end of Constantinople, hill echoing 
to hill the mournful concert of ululation issuing 
in discord from innumerable canine throats. I 
can sleep well on a steamship, amid the roar of 
machinery and the outside thunder of the ocean, 
with the ejaculations of a sea-sick passenger in a 
cabin on one side, with the song of a distracted 
nurse to a screaming baby in a cabin on the other 
side; but the howling of dogs in Constantinople 
is too much for me. There is no remedy. A ton 
of dynamite exploded at any point, even under 
your hotel window, would do no good. Impreca- 
tions, the solace of the irritated and the injured, 
are useless. There is no deity in Constantinople 
to hear and answer the prayers of the afflicted 
and the suffering. The only way is to bear the 
ills we have and not fly to other ills that would 
come from a Moslem mob by killing a sacred dog. 
It is said that the dogs do some good by eating 
up the garbage in the dirty streets, thus performing 
the work neglected by the municipal government. 
They may thus serve the same purpose as the 
bacteria of putrefaction. 

The next morning we hastened down to the 
Golden Horn, cutting the acquaintance of every 
dog we met, and embarked on a little steamboat 
for the most inland point. We had on the way 



198 A WINDING JOURNEY 

an excellent view of the Turkish fleet, with many 
great ironclads, and a shipyard where repairs are 
made. The boat was crowded with natives, but 
the people were quiet and orderly. Many women 
of the lower classes were on board, but they were 
veiled, reserved, and modest in their bearing. 
There were no idle-looking men, no rowdies. 
Drunkenness is never observed in any public con- 
veyance of Constantinople. At the numerous 
landing-places beggars were abundant enough, but 
they were not importunate and offensive. Each 
passenger was seemingly intent on business of 
some kind, but was in no hurry about it. 

We landed near a mosque, which our guide 
told us was very sacred, as the place where the 
Sultans are crowned, receive the sword of the 
Prophet, and where many of them are buried. 
We proposed to see it, but were told that no 
Christian could enter there. A single gold napoleon, 
however, opened the door to us. My companion, 
the African official of Bismarck, capriciously mut- 
tered a Mohamedan prayer in good Arabic, with 
due ceremony, and the priest came to the conclusion 
that we had a right to visit the place where the 
defender of the faithful receives the insignia of 
office. 

I follow here the 'information given by our guide, 
one of the best of his class, who badly mixed up 
stories of different times and places, and of no time 
and place, in order to show the importance of 
listening with discriminating scepticism to those 




MOHAMMED III ENTERING CONSTANTINOPLE. 



AEOmSTD THE WORLD. 199 

who make a trade of conducting travelers about 
strange cities. 

We were exactly in the Mosque of Eyoob, the 
Prophet's standard-bearer. It is of white marble 
and has three cupolas. It contains splendid tombs 
of Eyoob and Sultan Selim. In this mosque a 
new Sultan receives the sword of Othman, the 
founder of the great kingdom and empire of the 
Turks, from whom the Turks are called Osmanli, 
Ottomans, or Othomans. It requires a special 
firman to visit the mosque. The priest who let us 
in believed that we were Mohamedan travelers 
from the East. 

From the Mosque of Eyoob we ascended the 
long hills, by way of the Crooked Gate, Egri 
Kapousi, through which Justinian entered the city, 
to the great cemeteries, from the summit of which 
there is a magnificent view over Stamboul, Pera, 
Scutari, the Golden Horn, and the Bosphorus. The 
dark cypress-trees, a marked feature in all the land- 
scapes of Constantinople and its environs, cast a 
heavy shade, shielding us from the morning sun. 
We climbed along the decaying walls, as far as the 
"Shot" Gate, Top Kapousi, formerly the Gate of 
St. Romanus, where Constantine Palaeologus, the 
last Greek Emperor, was killed by a cannon-shot 
in 1453, when the Turks stormed and captured 
the city. The remains of the walls, begun by 
Theodosius II., are still seen on the western or 
land side of Stamboul, in a triple line, with a dry 
ditch thirty feet wide. From the Top Kapousi 



200 A WINDING JOURNEY 

we had a good view of the Sea of Marmora. 
The remains of the walls along the water's edge of 
the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, and the Sea 
of Marmora, have nearly disappeared. Six of the 
seven gates, by which the walls on the land side 
were pierced, are still in a fair state of preservation. 
From the higher points we could see in the distance, 
the range of hills, some of them 500 feet high, 
running twenty miles, from the Sea of Marmora to 
Lake Derkos on the Black Sea, along which the 
Turks, under direction of an English engineer, 
built a line of modern fortifications, during the 
war with Russia in 1877. 

We descended along the narrow, dirty, crooked 
streets of Stamboul to the great Bazar, Bezesteen, 
a labyrinth of corridors, built of stone, lighted by 
domes, miles in extent, walled in with thirty-two 
gates. The goods are displayed in the most 
tempting manner. Each nationality and each trade 
is by itself. The whole world of commerce is 
represented. Whatever is made, and is for sale in 
shops, from England to Japan, is here exhibited. 
For one who could speak a hundred tongues, it 
would be the nicest place on earth to shop. I 
am afraid, however, that it would be impossible to 
find any corner in the grand Bazar of Stamboul 
where the goods have a fixed price. We spent 
hours in looking at things that we had no inclina- 
tion to purchase. For once we felt the feminine 
delight of shopping without any definite object 
in view. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 201 

We returned towards evening to the hotel, foot- 
sore and wearied. My friends were preparing to 
start early the next morning for Vienna. The 
prospect of parting with them was a real grief. 
We had seen together more of Constantinople in 
two days than is usually seen in two weeks. Each 
supplemented the knowledge, the observation of 
the others. Mutual support gave us courage in a 
city where so many things were strange and new. 
When we come to the parting of the roads with 
pleasant traveling companions, they seem to be 
leaving us for ever. Henceforth we must think 
of them as dead to us, and there is something 
more than of mortality in the feeling that we too 
are dead to them. A day's journey is practically 
just as wide a separation as the distance between 
the stars. 

The next day I went to Scutari alone, not 
knowing how to spend the Christian Sabbath 
better than by visiting the places consecrated by the 
toil and genius of Florence Nightingale. Scutari 
very much resembles the main city on the other 
side of the Bosphorus, and contains a population 
estimated all the way from forty to one hundred 
thousand. Scutari is noted for its cemeteries, in 
the midst of great forests of cypress. During the 
Russian war of 1 854-1 856, Sultan Mahmud built 
there immense caserns, which were occupied by the 
English as barracks and a hospital, which lie on 
the southern side of the suburb. Still further 
south is the great burial ground of the English, 



202 A WINDING JOURNEY 

who died during the terrible Crimean war, where 
now stands the monument erected by the Baron 
Marochetti. Two miles farther south is the modern 
village of Kadikoi, the ancient Chalcedon, on the 
banks of the Sea of Marmora. Scutari contains 
many mosques, from the turrets of which I heard 
the Muezin calling the faithful to prayer. 

Florence Nightingale, when stricken down with 
fever in the Crimea, refused to leave her post, 
but on her convalescence went to Scutari and 
remained there till Turkey was evacuated in 1856. 
Her Notes on Hospitals and her Notes on Nursing; 
that grew out of her experience in attending sick 
soldiers, have revolutionized hospital construction 
and the sanitation of armies in the whole civilized 
world. 

I spent several subsequent days In exploring 
Pera in all directions. A great conflagration, in 
1870, consumed two-thirds of it, and rendered 
40,000 people homeless. Its former population of 
70,000 was thereby reduced one-half. Its gardens, 
coffee-houses, and open spaces clothed with somber 
cypress, are still interesting and afford abundant 
opportunities of studying the manners and customs 
of a strange people. 

The city of Byzantium was planted 660-670 b. c, 
by Byzas, a Megarian leader, in a corner of Thrace, 
where Point Seraglio now is. The Romans con- 
quered it in the year 63. Constantine established 
the seat of the Roman Empire there, in 328-330, 
and called the city Constantinopolis, from himself. 



AEOmSTD THE WORLD. 203 

In the reign of Alexis Comnenus, the crusader 
Godfrey of Bouillon, made his appearance in 1096- 
1097. The city of Constantinople was taken by 
the Venetians and Franks, under the blind old 
Doge Dondolo, in 1204, who held it till 1261. In 
the meantime the Greek Emperors established their 
seat of government at Nicaea and at Trebizond. 
The Turks, after several attempts, captured the 
city, in 1453, under Mahomet II., after a siege of 
fifty-three days, and have kept possession of it 
ever since. 

How long will the Turks keep possession of it, 
and what will next become of the wonderful city 
that, better than any other, is adapted by location 
to be the seat of empire? Thus is opened up the 
"Eastern Question," which is not difficult to state, 
the solution of which no political prophet can 
foretell. 

Several curious facts, of especial significance, 
present themselves at the outset. 

1. Many intelligent Turks remove their dead 
to Scutari for burial, in the belief that their race 
is soon to be driven from Europe. 

2. In European Turkey there are nearly as 
many Slavs as Ottomans, including the inhabitants 
of Bulgaria. In a previous chapter we found an 
increasing number of Slavs, as we went down the 
eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea from Trieste. 

3. Also in European Turkey there are fewer 
Moslems than other religionists. Even before the 
last war with Russia, the Mohamedan population 



204 A WINDING JOUENEY 

of European Turkey was only 43 per cent, of the 
whole. 

4. The hold of Russia on the population of 
European Turkey, by the Slavic race and the 
Greek religion, is quite as great as that of the 
Sultan by the Osmanli race and the Mohamedan 
reliofion. 

5. No other government of Europe has any 
hold at all on the population of European Turkey, 
either by religion or race. 

6. The Turks, although they conquered Con- 
stantinople and extended their dominion to the 
Adriatic and up the Danube to the walls of Vienna, 
single handed, less than four centuries and a half 
ago, defying all the western nations, are now 
powerless, in the face of Europe, to remain a 
single day longer, of their own strength. Their 
tenure depends upon the disagreement of the great 
powers as to what shall be done with their spoils. 
The " sick man " is not speedily sent to merited 
Asiatic sepulture, because nobody can be allowed 
to administer on his estate. 

It would seem in justice that the lands wrested 
by the Turks from the Bulgarians and the Greeks 
ought to revert to them ; but the Bulgarians and 
the Greeks are unable, without help, to drive the 
Turks back to Asia. Russia would drive out the 
Turks, but she would not pass over her conquest 
to the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Russia has a 
better title to European Turkey than any other 
power, by reason of race and religious affinities. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 205 

But the rest of Europe will not tolerate Russian 
aggrandizement at the expense of Turkey. In her 
last war with Turkey, the rest of Europe combined 
to deprive her of the most important fruits of her 
victory. No other power seems to desire European 
Turkey, or to be willing to aid Russia in her 
ambition in exchange for anything that Russia can 
give. The Greeks are opposed to the advance of 
the Russians to Constantinople, for they know 
well that no chance would then remain to them 
to extend the boundary of their country in that 
direction. The little Principality of Bulgaria seems 
to have been cunningly set up by the diplomats 
of the Berlin Conference, on purpose to interpose 
a barrier between Russia and the Turkish Empire. 

Great Britain has no wish to possess herself of 
Constantinople, but is determined at any cost to 
keep Russia out. Commercial interest is more 
potent with her than considerations of race and 
religion. At any time she may have Russia as an 
enemy on the borders of India, in which case she 
.would find Turkey a useful ally. An empire of 
forty millions can furnish a vast number of soldiers 
that would be very effective when armed, fed and 
clothed with British gold. Great Britain has a 
larger number of Mohamedan subjects than the 
Sultan of Turkey, and an alliance between the 
two great Mohamedan powers is not only natural 
but forms a bond of sympathy with the most 
active and warlike element of southern Asiatic life. 

Germany, Austria, and Italy find it necessary 



206 A WINDING JOURNEY 

to combine against the further advancement of a 
colossal power, already sufficiently menacing in 
eastern Europe. Together they form a bulwark 
for the protection of the Moslem Empire. 

The cunning Turk understands the situation 
perfectly well, and profits by it to retain his 
grasp on the Balkan Peninsula. A despotism of 
debauchery and brute force is allowed to exist in 
Christian Europe, because the nations interested 
in getting rid of it cannot agree upon any feasible 
method of co-operating against it. No solution 
of the question is apparent, but out of it at any 
time may grow a great war, or succession of wars, 
devastating all Europe. Even centuries of waiting 
will not divert Russia from her fixed determination 
to extend her dominion over the fair capital of 
the Byzantine Empire. She longs in her heart 
of hearts to escape from her frozen seas to the 
warm Mediterranean, to re-establish the worship of 
the Greek Church in the desecrated temple of 
St. Sophia. When a decay, like that of Spain, over- 
takes the other nations of western Europe, it may 
be the mission of a younger and mightier power 
to realize the splendid vision of Peter the Great. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 207 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE BLACK SEA. 



OoME weeks before leaving America I had written 
(^ to Hon. G. V. N. Lothrop, United States 

<. Minister at St. Petersburg, requesting him 
to procure for me, from the Russian government, 
a special permit to travel in the region beyond 
the Caspian Sea. At the American legation in 
Constantinople I received a letter from Mr. Lothrop, 
stating that he had made application for the permit 
but had not yet received it. The Russian Consul- 
General at Constantinople, to whom I showed the 
letter of the American Minister, informed me that 
the Governor-General of the Trans-Caucasus, who 
was the proper officer to issue such a permit, was 
away from his post on leave of absence, and that 
it was uncertain when he would return. As it was 
impossible for me to remain Indefinitely at Con- 
stantinople, waiting for a document necessary to 
make a journey into Turcomania, I determined to 
set out at once for Tiflis, whither my regular passport 
would take me. The Russian Consul-General was 
very friendly and gave me some good advice for 
traveling with comfort in his country. It was a 
sore disappointment to me not to be able to visit 



208 A WINDING JOUENEY 

Khiva and Merve, and the region beyond as far 
as the Oxus River. The Russian Ambassador at 
Constantinople could not help me; in fact, no 
Russian official, at St. Petersburg or elsewhere, has 
the authority to issue a permit to travel In the 
Trans-Caspian region, In the absence of the 
Governor-General. The Czar might indeed issue 
a special order, but the exigencies of the case 
would not warrant an application to him through 
the American Minister. 

I took passage on a small Russian steamer for 
Batoum, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. Its 
course lay along the coast of Asia Minor, at several 
points of which it was to stop. The voyage by 
way of the European coast would Involve several 
changes and considerable delay. One might take 
a steamer to Odessa, and there take another for 
the Crimea, from which an occasional boat runs 
to PotI, a port on the north-eastern shore of the 
Black Sea, whence one could travel by railroad to 
a junction on the main line from Batoum to Tiflis. 
I preferred to take the direct route along the 
Asiatic coast. 

The steward of the boat spoke Italian well, 
and I soon found passengers who spoke French; 
so I encountered no serious linguistic difficulties. 

We got under way early In the morning. The 
sun flashed from the minarets and domes of Con- 
stantinople, which looked like a city of enchantment 
as It slowly vanished behind us. The little steamer 
breasted the strong current of the Bosphorus, 



AROUND THE -WOELD. 209 

which is really a river running from the Black Sea 
to the Sea of Marmora. It is not any wider than 
the Hudson in the Highlands, and is not nearly 
so beautiful. Very picturesque it is, and the asso- 
ciations of twenty-five hundred years of history 
make it very interesting. Its very name comes 
from the mythological story of lo, enamored of 
Zeus, swimming over it in the form of a heifer. 
We first passed the Imperial Gun Factory of 
Tophana and two or three splendid palaces. After 
passing the famous Barbarossa Column, the current 
of five miles an hour almost stopped the movement 
of the steamer. Foreign residences were pic- 
turesquely grouped about the Bay of Bebek, a 
little farther on. On the heights of Roumelie- 
Hissar, beyond the Bay of Bebek, was a fine 
edifice that caused an American heart to beat with 
pride. It was the College, founded in 1863 by 
the liberality of Mr. Robert, of New York, where 
150 boys, mostly from Bulgaria, are educated. The 
influence of the American College is very great, 
and the good it does is without alloy. We slowly 
passed the valley of " Sweet Waters," where stands 
a magnificent kiosk of the Sultan. Residences and 
kiosks of the pashas lined the shore, as we went on. 
The famous Giant's Hill appeared on the Asiatic 
side, at a bend in the Bosphorus. Byron ascended 
it and sang, in rather an incoherent way : 

"'Tis a grand sight, from off 'the Giant's Grave' 
To watch the progress of those rolling seas, 
Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave 
Europe and Asia." 
14. 



210 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Against the cold current and chilly morning 
wind from the Black Sea our little Muscovite 
steamer was more than four hours in making a 
distance of about twenty miles. The unremitting 
flow of the water in the Bosphorus has been well 
described by Shakspeare: 

"Like to tte Pontic Sea, 
Whose icy current and compulsive course 
Ne'er feels returning ebb, but keeps due on 
To the Propontic and the Hellespont." 

The Black Sea, or Euxine Sea, drains about 
one-fourth of all Europe, and also 100,000 square 
miles of Asia. It covers 172,000 square miles. It 
is 700 miles long from east to west, and 380 miles 
wide at the western end. There are no islands in 
it, except a small one lying off the mouths of the 
Danube. There are no shoals, except near the 
entrance of the Bosphorus. One of the great 
dangers of navigation is therefore wanting. In 
winter, sometimes in summer, fierce conflicting winds 
blow over the Black Sea, making it a terror to 
navigators. In November, 1854, a violent storm 
destroyed or disabled forty ships of the allies 
fighting against Russia in the Crimean war. One 
thousand lives were lost and many millions worth 
of property destroyed. Between the Crimea and 
the mouths of the Danube there is much floating 
ice in winter, rendering navigation difficult and 
dangerous. Owing to the vast volume of fresh 
water poured into the Black Sea from many 
mighty rivers, its waters are not so salt and there- 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 211 

fore more easily frozen than the waters of seas 
connected with the ocean. The specific gravity of 
the waters of the Mediterranean is 1028, while 
that of the Black Sea waters is only 1014. Like 
an inland lake, the Black Sea has no tide. That 
it is not entirely fresh must be accounted for by 
the fact of a returning under-current through the 
deep channel of the Bosphorus. It is connected 
with the Sea of Azof by the Straits of Yenikale, 
through which pours a strong current, flowing, 
first south-westerly, then north-westerly, around the 
Crimea, to sweep along the western coast, increased 
by the influx of the Dnieper, the Dniester, and 
the Danube, to pass even by the exit of the 
Bosphorus far up the Asiatic shore. This great 
current, fed by large rivers, circling round the 
Black Sea, is often broken up by terrific gales 
sweeping down suddenly from the lofty, ice-crowned 
mountains at its eastern end. 

The sea was tranquil as a sleeping tiger when 
we entered it. The next day, however, came on 
a sudden storm, when the little steamer "bucked" 
like one of Buffalo Bill's mad mustangs. The 
boat was very strong and in command of a bold 
and skilled navigator from the Baltic coast of 
Russia. The sanitary arrangements, the table, and 
the beds were the best of any that I saw on the 
inland seas of Europe. The storm lasted but one 
day, after which the sea was tranquil all the way 
to Batoum. 

The first place of importance at which we 



212 A WIJSTDING JOURNEY 

Stopped, on the coast of Asia Minor, was Sinope. 
It was there that a Turkish squadron of thirteen 
ships was attacked and destroyed by a Russian 
fleet in 1853. Ancient Sinope was founded by a 
colony of Milesian Greeks, and, for two centuries 
after the Peloponnesian war, maintained ascendancy 
in the Euxine. In the walls of the half-ruined 
fortifications may be observed Corinthian columns, 
friezes, capitals, even statues, used as building 
material. Works of the Greek chisel there, as 
elsewhere, have been put to base Byzantine uses. 
The roadstead in the Bay of Sinope is the best 
on the Anatolian coast. From the little town of 
10,000 inhabitants hundreds of small boats put 
out to meet the incoming, steamer, and there, on 
a small scale, was re-enacted the landing scene of 
the Golden Horn. 

The whole shore of Anatolia, the modern name 
for Asia Minor, near which we sailed, is exceedingly 
pleasant to the eye. A narrow margin of coast, 
sloping down from the mountains abruptly to the 
sea, is very fertile and clothed with green. Valleys, 
here and there, open up sublime views of the 
interior range of mountains, which, in places, rise 
into peaks eight to ten thousand feet high. The 
population of the towns on the sea consists of an 
admixture of Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, with 
a few Osmanli Turks, which are dominant in the 
interior. The Greeks abound most in the western 
and the Armenians in the eastern coast towns. 

The only other Turkish mart of the Black Sea 



AROUND THE WORLD. 213 

that demands special attention is Trebizond. It 
has a population of 40,000, most of whom are 
Moslems. Erzerum lies no miles to the south- 
east of Trebizond. The older part of the town 
is surrounded with walls, outside of which, on the 
picturesque hillsides, are the habitations of European 
residents. There is considerable commerce by sea, 
although the harbor is considered safe only in 
summer. Caravans from Syria, Tabriz, and Erzerum, 
bring the products of Asia, which are exchanged 
for the fabrics of Europe. We remained the greater 
part of a day in the roadstead, giving plenty of 
time to land and explore the city. It is an epitome 
of Constantinople, and is only second to Constan- 
tinople in commercial importance. 

Trebizond was founded by a colony of Greeks 
from Sinope. It flourished under the Colchians. 
Xenophon arrived there in his retreat from Persia. 
The Romans conquered it from Mithridates. Trajan 
made it the capital of Pontus Cappadocicus. The 
Byzantine Emperor, Alexis Comnenus, established 
himself there when Constantinople was conquered 
by the Venetians, in 1204, and founded the Empire 
of Trebizond, which extended from the Halys to 
the Phasis. It maintained itself against the 
Turks till Mohamed II. conquered its last emperor 
in 1462. 

It was a short night's sail from Trebizond to 
Batoum, which was wrested from the Turks by 
the Russians in 1878. 

The Black Sea has been a highway of commerce 



214 'a winding joueney 

between Asia and Europe since the earliest history. 
Large quantities of corn were exported from its 
marts to the Peloponnesus and Athens in the days 
of Xerxes. The Romans traded extensively to its 
ports. The foundation of the great prosperity of 
Venice was laid by traffic with Asia, over the 
Black Sea. When the Turks gained a foothold 
in Europe they closed it to all navigation but 
their own. The Russians, however, obtained the 
privilege of trading in the Black Sea, by the treaty 
of Kinarji, in 1774. Ten years later the Austrians 
were admitted to the same privilege. British and 
French trading vessels were also admitted to the 
Black Sea, by the the Peace of Amiens, in 1802. 
Beneath the pretexts of diplomacy may be dis- 
covered the fact that the real cause of the 
Crimean war was the preponderance of Russia in 
the Black Sea. 

The original name of the Black Sea was Axine, 
or the Inhospitable ; .so called either from its tem- 
pests, or from the savage tribes that dwelt upon 
its shores. The Greeks changed the name to 
Euxine, the Hospitable, and established colonies 
all around it. 

I am unwilling to close my brief account of 
the Black Sea without some reference to the 
Argonauts, who, according to the Songs of Orpheus, 
sailed over it in the ship Argo, long before the 
beginning of authentic history. A few paragraphs 
from Kingsley's fascinating narrative will tell the 
story of the Argonauts, so far as their navigation 



AROUND THE WORLD. 215 

of the Euxine is concerned. Of course, the story- 
is only a Greek fable, but it contains wonderful 
symbols of even modern history. 

" But the Argonauts went eastward, and out 
into the open sea, which we now call the Black 
Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen 
(Greek) had ever crossed it, and all feared that 
dreadful sea, and its rocks, and shoals, and fogs, 
and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange 
stories of it, some false, and some half true, how 
it stretched northward to the ends of the earth, 
and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the everlasting 
night, and the regions of the dead. So the heroes 
trembled, for all their courage, as they came 
into that wild Black Sea, and saw it stretching out 
before them, without a shore, as far as eye could see. 

" And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them : 
' We shall come now to the wandering blue rocks ; 
my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the 
immortal muse.' 

"And soon they saw the blue rocks shining, 
like spires and castles of gray glass, while an ice- 
cold wind blew from them, and chilled all the 
heroes' hearts. And as they neared they could 
see them heaving, as they rolled upon the long 
sea-waves, crashing and grinding together, till the 
roar went up to heaven. The sea sprang up in 
spouts between them, and swept round them in 
white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nod- 
ding high in air, while the wind whistled shrill 
among the crags. 



216 A WINDING JOURNEY 

"The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they 
lay upon their oars in fear; but Orpheus called to 
Tiphys, the helmsman : ' Between them we must 
pass ; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, 
for Hera is with us,' But Tiphys, the cun- 
ning helmsman, stood silent, clenching his teeth, 
till he saw a heron come flying mast-high towards 
the rocks, and hover awhile before them, as if 
looking for a passage through. Then he cried: 
'Hera has sent us a pilot; let us follow the 
cunning bird.' 

"Then the heron flapped to and fro for a 
moment, till he saw a hidden gap, and into it 
he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched 
what would befall. 

"And the blue rocks clashed together as the 
bird fled swiftly through ; but they struck but a 
feather from his tail, and then rebounded apart at 
the shock. 

" Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they 
shouted ; and the oars bent like withes beneath 
their strokes, as they rushed between those toppling 
ice-crags, and the cold blue lips of death. And ere 
the rocks could meet again they had passed between 
them, and were safe out in the open sea. 

"And after that they sailed on wearily along 
the Asian coast, by the Black Cape and the Thyneis, 
where the hot stream of Thrymbis falls into the 
sea, and Sangarius, whose waters float on the 
Euxine, till they came to Wolf the river, and to 
Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 217 

heroes, Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman ; one 
died of an evil sickness, and one a wild boar slew. 
So the heroes heaped a mound above them, and 
set upon it an oar on high, and left them to sleep 
together, on the far-off Lycian shore. But Idas 
killed the boar, and avenged Tiphys ; and Ancaios 
took the rudder and was helmsman, and steered 
them on towards the east. 

"And they went on past Sinope, and many a 
mighty river's mouth, and past many a barbarous 
tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike 
women of the East, till all night they heard the 
clank of anvils and the roar of furnace-blasts, and 
the forge-fires shone like sparks through the dark- 
ness, in the mountain glens aloft; for they were 
come to the shores of the Chalybes, the smiths 
who never tire, but serve Ares the cruel war-god, 
forging weapons day and night. 

"And at the day-dawn they looked eastward, 
and midway between the sea and sky they saw 
white snow-peaks hanging, glittering, sharp and 
bright above the clouds. And they knew that they 
were come to Caucasus, at the end of all the earth ; 
Caucasus, the highest of all mountains, the father 
of the rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained 
the Titan, while a vulture tears his heart ; and at 
his feet are piled dark forests round the magic 
Colchian land. , 

"And they rowed three days to the eastward, 
while Caucasus rose higher hour by hour, till they 
saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong to 



218 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the sea, and shining above the tree-tops, the golden 
roofs of King Aietes, the child of the sun. 

" Then out spoke Ancaios, the helmsman : ' We 
are come to our goal at last ; for there are the 
roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons 
grow; but who can tell us where among them is 
hid the golden fleece? Many a toil we must bear 
ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece.* 

" But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart 
was high and bold ; and he said : * I will go alone 
up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun 
and win him with soft words. Better so than to 
go all together, and to come to blows at once.' 
But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they 
rowed boldly up the stream. 

"And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his 
heart with fear. He thought he saw a shining 
star, which fell into his daughter's lap ; and that 
Medeia, his daughter, took it gladly, and carried 
it to the river-side, and cast it in, and there the 
whirling river bore it down, and out into the 
Euxine Sea. 

"Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants 
bring his chariot, that he might go down to the 
river-side and appease the nymphs, and the heroes 
whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down 
in his golden chariot, and his daughters by his 
side, Medeia, the fair witch-maiden, and Chalciope, 
who had been Phrixus' wife, and behind him a 
crowd of servants and soldiers, for he was a rich 
and mighty prince. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 219 

"And as he drove down by the reedy river, 
he saw Argo sliding up beneath the bank, and 
many a hero in her, like immortals for beauty and 
for strength, as their weapons glittered around 
them in the level morning sunlight, through the 
white mist of the stream. But Jason was the 
noblest of all ; for Hera, who loved him, gave 
him beauty, and tallness, and terrible manhood." 



220 A WINDDfa JOUBNEY 



CHAPTER VII. 



ASIATIC RUSSIA. 



^T was Sunday morning when I landed at 
cS Batoum; consequently I could not go on till 
♦ the next day. There were eighteen steamships 
in the safe, capacious harbor. The Russian officials 
who examined baggage and received passports were 
polite, even helpful. Search was especially made 
for books and newspapers, but with discriminating 
intelligence. 

An old French gentleman, who had lived at 
Trebizond thirty years as agent of the Messagerie 
steamships, who spoke Turkish and Russian with 
fluency, who knew the country well, was especially 
helpful to me as interpreter. We went together 
to a hotel, where I got a clean room and received 
civil attention. 

The day was exceedingly sultry, and we remained 
in our rooms till toward evening. We then went 
to a large new park, by the sea-side, where a Russian 
military band was playing, where a cool breeze was 
blowing inland, where a large number of soldiers 
and civilians were promenading. A magnificent 
amphitheater of mountains^ crowned with white 
snow, rising peak above peak, looked down 



AROUND THE WORLD. , 221 

upon the town at no great distance. The lower 
slopes of the mountains were clothed in green 
forests. The dark waters of the deep Black Sea 
were reflecting the rays of the setting sun on the 
west. Batoum is a beautiful city of six or eight 
thousand inhabitants, clean and orderly. It was a 
very dirty Turkish village, but the Russians, since 
they took possession of it in 1878, have made it a 
neat seaport, of growing importance. The English, 
who call it a mosquito swamp, entirely misrepresent 
its character, as they misrepresent many other 
Russian things. 

At the junction of the river, constituting the 
harbor, and the sea,' and along one side of the 
park, are extensive new fortifications, not yet com- 
pleted. The earthworks, mounting many heavy 
guns, are constructed according to the principles 
of modern engineering. It ' is said the Russians 
are fortifying Batoum in defiance of existing treaties, 
but it would doubtless be a very difiicult task to 
dislodge them. Soldiers on every hand were seen 
in abundance, but I made no enquiries as to their 
number. ' If one wishes to travel in Russia without 
being turned back and expelled from the country, 
he must exhibit no curiosity as to military affairs. 

Among the promenaders in the park were repre- 
sentatives of many oriental nationalities. They 
wore the costumes of their different countries and 
looked very picturesque. Most prominent were 
Russians In military dress. There were many moun- 
taineers from the various tribes of the Caucasus, 



222 A WINDING JOURNEY 

whose long flowing robes set off well their tall, 
graceful forms. The Georgian men looked superb, 
but the Georgian women were not so beautiful 
as I expected to find them. The women of the 
more western Caucasian tribes were more attractive- 
looking. Persians, Armenians, and Turks were 
among the crowds, but, of course, no Mohamedan 
women were there. 

My French friend pointed out to me the direc- 
tion, among the mountains, of the great fortress 
of Kars, to the south-east of Batoum, which now 
belongs to the Russians. They took it in 1828, 
but had to give it up. They again besieged and 
took it in 1855, during the Crimean war, but the 
Treaty of Paris compelled them to return it to 
the Turks. Once more, in 1877, they drove the 
Turks out of Kars, and this time they have kept 
it, and will probably keep it for a long time to 
come. It is situated on a high volcanic plateau, 
can accommodate a garrison of 10,000 men, and, 
well defended, is almost impregnable. Much farther 
to the east is the great fortress of Alexandropol, 
equally strong as Kars. The frontier of Russia is 
well protected on the borders of Turkey by these 
two great strongholds. At the same time the for- 
tifications on the sea at Batoum secure to Russia 
its newly acquired territory. An abundance of 
soldiers in the Trans-Caucasian territory will prevent 
the landing of soldiers, except in an improbable 
combination like that of the Crimean war, to 
threaten the defences of Russia from within. 



AEOIHSTD THE WOULD 223 

I was at the threshold of the greatest empire 
in the world, containing eight and a half millions 
of square miles of territory and a hundred millions 
of inhabitants. Within its boundaries is one 
twenty-fourth of the earth's entire surface and one- 
quarter of all the dry land. Its magnitude, like 
that of the globe itself, is almost incomprehensible 
and inconceivable. 

My amiable French acquaintance introduced me 
to a countryman of his, who had kept the leading 
hotel in Tiflis for many years, and was going there 
the next morning. We went together and I found 
him a pleasant and useful traveling companion. He 
spoke the Russian language fluently and knew all 
about the journey, which he was in the habit of 
making every week in the year. 

The railroad runs from Batoum to Baku, on 
the Caspian Sea, a distance of over six hundred 
miles. Tiflis is about half way. In a few hours 
we passed the junction where a railroad comes up 
from Poti, a port on the Black Sea, some distance 
to the north of Batoum. At first we passed along 
the border of the sea, through a dense jungle with 
here and there a clearing. Then it strikes off 
into the mountains, over a pass more than 3,000 
feet high, said to have the steepest grade in Europe 
— one in twenty-two. The mountains, on both sides 
of the pass, were dark with forests of fir. Engineers 
were busy at the pass, laying out a tunnel which 
would shorten the distance and lessen the grade. 

The train was driven by huge engines, one 



224 A WINDING JOURNEY 

before, one behind, in which petroleum was used 
for fuel. No other fuel is used on the whole 
length of the road from Batoum to Baku. The 
same kind of fuel, which is found in exhaustless 
abundance on the shores of the Caspian Sea, is 
used on all the railways running westward from 
the Volga to the interior of European Russia. I 
afterwards saw great tanks , of it in Moscow, for 
use in manufacturing establishments. It is the only 
fuel used on the steamers of the Caspian and 
the rivers emptying into it. One would suppose 
that burning petroleum would make much smoke and 
smell on a locomotive. On the contrary, it makes 
less smoke and smell than soft coal. We met on 
the way train after train of tank cars, carrying 
petroleum from Baku westward to the Black Sea. 

After passing the summit of the mountain range 
we descended into the valley of the Kur, which 
rises in the western Caucasus, and is fed by torrents 
that come down from the lofty uplands on either 
side. It flows swiftly, and the valley looks as 
though it was subject to frequent inundations. The 
railroad is carried along the river with engineering 
skill, and frequently crosses it on high, substantial 
bridges of stone. The views over the mountains 
both on the Caucasian and on the Armenian side, 
were constantly picturesque, frequently sublime. We 
saw, at one point, a great caravan of two or three 
thousand camels, winding its way along for miles, 
on a narrow road at the foot of steep mountains, 
just across the river from the train. 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 225 

We arrived at Tiflis late in the evening. My 
traveling companion passed me over to a commis- 
sionaire of the Hotel de London, formerly kept by 
himself, then kept by his successor, a German. One 
who travels much is grateful for a warm welcome 
at an inn. The hotel-keeper and his wife, both 
from Germany, received me as though I had been 
an old friend, prepared me an excellent supper, 
and gave me a good bed. 

The next morning I engaged a native, who 
spoke French fluently, as an interpreter, servant, 
and guide. The city was not large and could be 
soon explored. The first thing I did was to ride 
on all the street-car lines, of which there were 
several, to the end of the track and back. In 
many places I have adopted that plan. It is 
economic, expeditious, brings one in contact with 
the people, and reveals all the untidy as well as 
the more showy parts of a city. The tramway 
service of Tiflis is as good as that of most cities 
of its size. 

The city of Tiflis has about one hundred and 
thirty thousand inhabitants. It is much more 
Asiatic than European. Some of the streets are 
narrow and dirty; others are wide and clean. All 
the streets are paved with rough cobble-stones. The 
river Kur runs rapidly through the center of the 
town, in a deep channel, on its course towards 
the Caspian Sea. It is crossed with numerous 
high stone bridges. The river, coming from a 
mountainous district, sometimes rises quickly to an 
IS 



226 A WINDING JOURNEY 

enormous height and as rapidly subsides. It is not 
navigable. Its waters are turbid, from the wash 
of the uplands from which it flows. The Hotel 
de London overlooks it, with a beautiful garden 
intervening adorned with fountains and flowers. 
Long lines of verandahs, on the different stories 
face the garden, and there guests take their meals 
or promenade. 

The inhabitants of Tiflis are a mixture of many- 
races — Russians, Armenians, Persians, Tartars, Jews, 
Caucasians of various tribes. People from the 
country come in with ox-teams, bringing their 
produce to market in very primitive vehicles. The 
costumes, for the most part very picturesque, are 
as varied as the nationalities. There is a beautiful 
wooded park, by the river, in the upper part of 
the town, where many congregate towards evening 
and listen to the music of a Russian military 
band. 

Tiflis is the seat of an Armenian bishop, as 
well as a bishop of the Greek Church. It contains 
the palace of a Governor-General, who is generally 
a Grand Duke. It also contains a very interesting 
museum of the products and antiquities of the 
Caucasus. The newer part of the city is strongly 
fortified and garrisoned with many soldiers. A 
large number of high military officers took their 
meals daily at the Hotel de London. Large, fine 
banking-houses indicated a large volume of trade 
and the constant use of a considerable amount of 
money. Tiflis, in fact, is the center of an important 



[AROUND THE WORLD. 227 

interchange of products and manufactured goods 
between Persia and the Caucasus. 

Tiflis hes in a depression, "in a kettle," as they 
there say, surrounded on all sides by mountains, 
which concentrate the rays of the sun. The town 
is therefore insufferably hot in summer. As they 
have no system of watering streets, the dust rises 
in clouds and is exceedingly uncomfortable as well 
as unwholesome. At the eastern border of the 
town a great hot spring of very clear water gushes 
from the foot of the mountains, over which some 
Persians have built an immense stone bath-house. 
The water is not so hot as the water at Baden- 
Baden, and contains very little mineral matter of 
any kind. The temperature of the water is about 
right for a hot bath. The baths are of marble 
and very luxurious. Skilled Persians attend one 
in the bath and understand their art exceedingly 
well. 

After remaining at Tiflis a week, I procured 
the necessary special permit and went over the 
Caucasian Mountains to Vladicavkas. This is the 
finest mountain journey west of the Himalayas, in 
central Asia. The distance is only 133 miles, but 
the Darial Pass, which must be traversed, is inde- 
scribably grand. It is the only road through the 
Caucasus, except one along the shore of the Caspian 
Sea. It required three days and a part of two 
nights to make the journey. I had secured two 
seats in the coupe of the diligence, which gave 
me a good elevated place for observation and room 



228 A WINDING JOUKNEY 

enough to move about a little and make myself 
tolerably comfortable. My good host of the Hotel 
de London put me up a nice basket of provisions, 
cold chickens, wine, etc., so that I might have 
enough to eat and drink on the cold mountain 
road. There were only four passengers. The 
conductor of the diligence was a huge Tartar, in 
whose charge I was especially placed. With none 
of them could I communicate a single word, by 
any speech known to me and them. The language 
of signs and gesticulations was my only resource. 

We started early in the cool morning and made 
the first stage along the tawny Kur, whose turbulent 
waters were kept in their channel, here and there, 
by heavy walls of masonry. Then we turned up 
the mountain road in the valley of a considerable 
affluent of the Kur. The sun shone out brightly 
and the torrent roaring over its rocky bed made 
music in the picturesque uplands. As we ascended, 
the view became more and more extended over 
the valley and the mountains on the opposite side. 
Huge eagles sailed from crag to crag, casting swiftly 
moving shadows along the grassy slopes. From 
an eminence, in the after part of the day, the con- 
ductor of the diligence pointed to the lofty Elburz, 
nearly 19,000 feet high, piercing the sky on the 
horizon to the north-west. With a good field-glass 
I could distinctly see Mount Ararat, far to the 
south, nearly 17,000 feet high, white with glacier 
ice, in which centers the corner boundary of Russia, 
Turkey, and Persia. Above us, directly ahead, 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 229 

hung the mighty mass of Kasbek, nearly 17,000 
feet high, around the eastern side of which we 
were to pass. The view was far grander than any 
in the Alps. 

The valleys through which we had been passing 
were richly fertile, producing wheat, maize, vines, 
cotton, rice, and indigo. I saw the people plowing 
up fields with great plows, such as are used on 
the prairies in America, drawn by eight yokes of 
oxen, turning up the rich black soil to the 
sun. Such fields, that had evidently been plowed 
the year previous, were bearing heavy crops of 
grain. In the great forests were growing precious 
woods of various kinds. We had not yet reached 
the line of everereen trees. The warm sun shone 
on the southern slopes, tempering the climate to 
a great altitude. In fact, on the sunny side of 
the Caucasus the line of perpetual snow is only 
reached at a height of 9,000 feet. Trees disappear 
more than a thousand feet lower, leaving an irregular 
circle of rock, which, however, is clothed with a 
shrub, looking somewhat like the sage brush of 
the Rocky Mountains, that creeps up the steep 
slopes between the glaciers. 

At noon on the second day I dined in company 
with a Russian general who was traveling through 
the Caucasus in his own carriage, with his wife 
and daughter. With them I had a pleasant con- 
versation in French. During the whole journey I 
had communication of speech with no one else. 

Towards evening the same day, we met a 



230 A WINDING JOUENEY 

peasant returning from a mountain stream with 
a beautiful string of trout. By signs and ges- 
ticulations I purchased the trout for a paper ruble 
(about forty-five cents of our money, according to 
the rate of exchange at the time). The peasant 
seemed very much pleased with his bargain. The 
fresh beauties cost me not over eight cents a 
pound. The conductor of the diligence carefully 
wrapped them up in green leaves, and put them 
away under the seat for future use. 

As night approached we were in the midst of 
overhanging peaks and "caverns measureless to 
man," climbing the steep road, by zigzags, towards 
the summit. The scene was desolate and awfully 
grand. Recently fallen snow skirted the road and 
hung heavy on the bending boughs of the dwarf 
pines that struggled their way up the precipitous 
valleys. Just after the dim lamps were lighted, 
we met a diligence coming down. The way was 
narrow at a sharp turn and the two vehicles col- 
lided. Each diligence had eight horses. One of 
our wheel-horses was thrown flat to the ground. 
There followed a scene of indescribable confusion 
in the midst of darkness rendered visible by the 
feeble lights. On one side was a precipice of vast 
depth, sheer down ; on the other a perpendicular wall 
of rock of unknown height. Passengers shrieked. 
Postilions blasphemed. Horses neighed. Our huge 
Tartar conductor planted himself in the road 
between the two diligences, and, with Herculean 
strength, thrust back any passengers who attempted 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 231 

to get out, admonishing them, as nearly as I could 
guess, that it was safer to remain quiet in their 
seats. The horses, beautiful animals, with small 
heads, small ears, clean limlps, stout necks, and 
strong bodies, seemed to know more than the ges- 
ticulating, screaming, swearing men. They watched 
the poor horse that was down and took care not 
to step on it. Whenever it struggled to get up, 
the others would pull a little in the harness, as 
if to help it. At length the big Tartar, having 
quieted the passengers, gave the poor fallen animal 
a lift, which, with its own intelligent exertions, 
brought it to its feet. The horse signified its 
pleasure by neighing till the echoes were awakened 
far and wide among the crags. The wheels were 
unlocked and we Went on slowly, while the big 
Tartar gave a prolonged blast on his battered 
bugle that was answered by the distant howling of 
wolves. 

We were two or three hours in reaching the 
summit of the road. The cold was intense. Owing 
to the darkness and steepness of the road, our 
progress was slow. The multitudinous howl of 
wolves grew nearer. The postilions were uneasy 
and the horses seemed to be apprehensive. The 
big Tartar carefully looked over his firearms to see 
if they were in order. The diligence was made 
strongly of wood and iron, and afforded a safe 
retreat in case of imminent peril. The greatest 
danger was that the horses might become terrified 
and run away. 



232 A WINDING JOURNEY 

However, we reached in safety the huge stone 
auberge among the eternal snows far up the side 
of mighty Mount Kasbek. It was near midnight, 
and we were chilled- to the bone. The big Tartar 
hastily preempted the best room in the station for 
me. One of the passengers, a Russian merchant 
from Odessa, coolly removed my baggage from the 
bed in that room and replaced it with his own. 
Whereupon the big Tartar took him by the shoulder, 
led him out into the hall, and blew after him a 
terrible blast on his battered trumpet as the dis- 
comfited fellow retreated without saying a word. 
That battered trumpet was the noisy emblem of 
the conductor's imperial authority. The road was 
a military highway, over which no one could travel 
without a special permit. The conductor was in 
charge of a government vehicle. Moreover, he 
was also in charge of the imperial mail. I was 
under his especial protection. When he had pre- 
empted a room for me, another man, undertaking 
to seize it, got off cheaply by receiving only an 
admonishing blast from the big Tartar's trumpet. 

The conductor of the diligfence informed me 
by unmistakable gestures that he was hungry, and 
enquired of me, in the same manner, whether I 
was not .also hungry. I nodded assent and pro- 
nounced to him the Russian word for trout, which 
I had picked up the day previous in my negotiations 
with the peasant fisherman. The big Tartar's " half- 
acre" of face smiled all over. He brought forth 
the trout and gave them to the three monkish- 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 233 

looking keepers of the mountain auberge to dress. 
He and I cooked them ourselves. I had good 
wine, brought along from Tiflis. The inn furnished 
us with palatable black bread. We devoured the 
trout and had a supper fit for a king. One of the 
mountaineers who kept the auberge was over seven 
feet high. I called him the Czarevitch, the crown 
prince, at which the others paid him mocking 
obeisance, and he strutted about the great stone 
kitchen, amusing us while we eat. Excellent hot 
Russian tea warmed us up, and we went to bed 
comfortable and cheerful. 

After a profound sleep of about four hours I 
was awaked by a great blast from the big Tartar's 
battered trumpet. The view of the mighty moun- 
tains, in the early morning sun, was glorious beyond 
description. We were in the midst of eternal snow 
and ice. A chill wind was blowing strongly from 
the north, ^which roared among the surrounding 
crags. The vast dome of Mount Kasbek lay before 
our wondering eyes. The slenderer shaft of the 
loftier Elburz was in full view beyond. Like swells 
of a tumultuous ocean an interminable field of 
mountain heights stretched away beyond the horizon 
on every hand. Those peaks had never been trod 
by foot of man. The wild ox browsed in the valleys 
and the wolf had its den in the lofty uplands, but 
neither ever climbed the cold summits that stood 
as sentinels between Asia and Europe, far above 
the clouds. We were right in the midst of moun- 
tains several thousand feet higher than the Alps. 



234 A WINDmG JOURNEY 

The road was good and our descent was rapid. 
Torrents, dashing in stair-Hke foaming falls, from 
ledge to ledge, thousands of feet down the steep 
mountain sides, soon gathered into a considerable 
river, which we crossed, over high stone bridges, 
from side to side, as the configuration of the narrow 
gorge made it necessary. As we descended, the 
mountains seemed to grow more lofty and grand. 
Old strongholds of the mountaineers, who struggled 
for years against the power of Russia, appeared 
here and there in ruins. Modern forts, bristling 
with artillery, had taken their place. The wild 
tribes of the Caucasus will never dislodge the 
tenacious Muscovite. The wild dervishes will never 
chant again their Moslem war-songs in places where 
now the chamois-hunter climbs with peril and toil. 
No new Shamyl, priest-hero, will ever again sum- 
mon the peasants from glen and dizzy height, to 
defend their country from the invader. The Aryan 
Christians of Russia broke the spirit of the wild 
heathen and Mohamedan tribes that had fought 
and robbed, many a century, in the mountain range 
that extends unbroken from the Black Sea to the 
Caspian. 

In the afternoon we traversed the famous and 
wonderful Darial Pass. The road for some distance 
was made by cutting a groove, with dynamite, 
in the almost perpendicular face of the granite 
rocks. A thousand feet below us roared the river 
over the great boulders in its bed. The bold 
brow of the mountain towered ten thousand feet 



DERVISHES OF THE CAUCASUS. 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 235 

above us. The road was worked smooth and was 
wide enough for two carriages to easily and safely 
pass one another. A little fort there, with a hundred 
men, could stop the progress of a hundred thousand. 
The winding chasm, dark in its dismal depth, was 
desolate as a great cavern in the hollow earth. The 
wind swept strong through that awful gorge, roaring 
like the howl of innumerable wild beasts chained 
in torture. Perhaps among the Andes or the 
Himalayas there may be another such a pass ; cer- 
tainly not elsewhere in the great world. 

Near evening we arrived at Vladicavkas, on 
the European side of the Caucasus, and our journey 
was ended. Mine excellent host of the Hotel de 
London, at Tiflis, had the forethought to telegraph 
to the only clean inn in Vladicavkas to secure a 
room for me, which I found in readiness on my 
arrival. I parted with the big Tartar sadly and 
compensated him well for his faithful services. 

The division of the Russian Empire called the 
Lieutenancy of the Caucasus, contains about one 
hundred and eighty thousand square miles, and 
more than five millions of inhabitants. It is about 
eight hundred miles long from east to west, and 
about five hundred miles wide from north to south. 
Its main feature is the lofty Caucasus, which runs 
in an almost unbroken range from the peninsula of 
Kertch, between the Sea of Azov and the Black 
Sea, a distance of eight hundred miles, to the 
promontory of Apsheron, which projects into the 
western side of the Caspian Sea. The Lieutenancy 



236 A WINDING JOURNEY 

crosses the valley of the Kur and runs far into 
the Armenian ranore on the south. The Caucasus 
has no transverse valleys, like the Alps. In this 
respect it resembles the much less lofty range of 
the Pyrenees. 

The peoples of the Caucasus differ greatly in 
customs, dress, and language. Among them are 
at least four types of the human race. About 
twenty-six per cent, are Russians, consequently 
Aryans. Twenty-five per cent, are Mongols, Kal- 
mucks, Turks, and Tartars. Thirty-one per cent, 
are Lesghians, Chechenzes, Grusinians or Georgians, 
and a variety of mountain tribes, all denominated 
Iberians by some ethnologists, Caucasians by the 
Russians. Nineteen per cent, are Armenians, Per- 
sians, Ossetes, Tati, and Kurds, under the general 
designation of Iranians. The whole population of 
the Caucasus is not more than a million and a half. 
The inhabitants were long supposed to be of the 
purest type of the Indo-European division of man- 
kind. There are no Indo-Europeans among them, 
except the invading Russians. A greater number 
of distinct races are found there than within the 
same space elsewhere on earth. More than one 
hundred languages or distinct dialects are spoken. 
The Turkish-Tartar language serves as a general 
medium of communication. The tribes sfathered in 
the Caucasus have the greatest affinity with the 
Mongolian races. 

A better piece of work for mankind Avas never 
done than the subduing of these fierce, barbaric. 




SHAMYL. 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 237 

robber hordes, by the Russians. The conflict lasted 
more than half a century. The great hero of the 
resistance was Shamyl, the Moslem prophet of the 
Lesghians, over whom have been shed many tears 
of misplaced sympathy. During the earlier years 
of the conflict the Russians were many times defeated 
by the bold and warlike mountaineers. At length 
Prince Woronzoff, of whom there is a striking statue 
in one of the public squares of Tiflis, changed the 
Russian tactics by dividing his forces and fortifying 
every point gained. Shamyl (''Samuel" in English) 
was captured in September, 1859. The Russian 
government showed its clemency by allowing him 
to retain his wives and treasure. The Czar assigned 
him a residence at Kaluga, as a parole prisoner of 
war, with a pension of 10,000 rubles. Shamyl made 
a pilgrimage to Mecca, in 1870, and died at Medina 
in 1871. 

Although Shamyl had been captured in 1859, 
it was not till 1864 that Russia extended her 
dominion over the whole region. More than five 
hundred thousand Cherkesses, at the western end 
of the Caucasus, migrated in a body to Turkey. 
The Russians were glad to get rid of them, as the 
exodus opened the region to immigration, and saved 
them the trouble and expense of controling a tur- 
bulent and hostile mass. The present inhabitants 
of the Caucasus are subdued, helpless, and peaceable. 
Robbery is no longer known' and order everywhere 
reigns. It is as safe to-day to travel in the 
Caucasus as in any part of the world. The human 



238 A WINDING JOURNEY 

hyenas were driven from their mountain lairs, which 
they had occupied from the dawn of history, at a 
vast cost of treasure and fighting men, and one of 
the most interesting portions of the globe has been 
opened to civilization. From the lofty citadel of 
the Caucasus, Russia now controls a wide territory, 
given up for ages to turbulence, plunder, fanati- 
cism, and savage murder of those who attempted 
to explore it. Under the courteous protection of 
a great and civilizing power I felt as secure in 
traveling there as in any part of my own country. 

It would be interesting in this connection to 
give some account of the conquests of Russia in 
central Asia, but I was not permitted to go there, 
and do not wish to write about a region which I 
have not seen. Books abound on Turkomania, 
wherein the reader can seek information at first 
hand. It may be stated, as a general conclusion, 
that Russia has accomplished there the same work 
of civilization as in the Caucasus. Order reigns 
from the Caspian Sea to Samarkand, where, not 
long ago, Mohamedan tribes were fighting, plun- 
dering, and enslaving captives from neighboring 
peoples. The order maintained by military rule is 
infinitely preferable to the chaos of barbarism. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 239 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EUROPEAN RUSSIA. 



yw^ Vladlcavkas I had had a good dinner and 
v^^ was smoking a cigar in my comfortable room, 
•=• by a window looking out upon the mountains 
which reared their heads, white with glacier ice 
and streaked with the crimson of the setting sun, 
high above the dark rain-clouds, when a waiter 
brought in the card of the Russian General whom 
I had casually met at table in my journey over 
the Caucasus. He had a singular request to make. 
He had searched in all the hotels of the city for 
rooms without being able to find any. In the 
coolest possible manner he asked me to give up 
my room to his wife and daughter. I told him 
that I had secured my room at considerable extra 
expense and trouble, that I was fatigued with a 
long and continuous journey, that I needed rest, 
that, being an oldish man, I could not very well 
sit up all night, however glad I might be to serve 
ladies so distinguished as his wife and daughter. 
He was inclined to press his request, when I 
suggested to him that Vladicavkas was the center 
of an imperial military district and must be the 
headquarters of a brother-general, to whom he 



240 A WINDING JOURNEY 

might state his misfortune and ask for hospitality, 
saying to him at the same time that if he failed 
he could return to me and I would give up my 
room to him. He went away, thanking me politely 
. for the suggestion. I met him the next morning 
at the railroad station, when he informed me that 
he had received very cordial hospitality, that he 
and his family had been made perfectly comfortable. 

This incident, and many others which it is not 
necessary to narrate, led me to the conclusion that 
the Russian mind is not fertile in resources, that 
it is lacking in the inventive genius so characteristic 
of the American mind. The general was evidently 
a man of high breeding, of fine bearing, of solid 
attainments, but it did not occur to him that it 
would be more appropriate to ask a favor of a 
countryman of equal rank with himself than of a 
chance traveling acquaintance. 

Vladicavkas is a flourishing city of 30,000 
inhabitants, with one of the most magnificent 
situations in the world, right at the foot of the 
grand pass through the Caucasus, but it has scarcely 
a decent hotel, not a well-paved street, nor a good 
sidewalk. At the outskirts of the town are endless 
barracks and a large military force. It is at the 
end of the railway system running south-eastward 
from the interior. The Terek river, which runs 
past it to the Caspian Sea, is not navigable. The 
inhabitants seem entirely unconscious of the great 
wealth of mountain scenery at their doors and 
before their eyes. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 241 

The next morning I found a great commotion 
at the railway station. Two military bands were 
there playing alternately. The large waiting-room 
of the station, a splendid structure in stone, was 
gay with numerous officers in full uniform. The 
platform by the waiting train was adorned with 
flowers and spread with brilliant carpets. The 
whole town was in the adjacent streets, shouting 
vivas ready to split their throats. The "divine 
Theresa," an actress from St. Petersburg, was about 
to take her departure and everybody was there to 
do her honor. She had been playing a successful 
engagement, and the little provincial city had gone 
mad over her. She was an exceedingly beautiful 
woman, and I did not feel like blaming an ardent 
public for their enthusiasm. Good judges said she 
had great talent, and is it not pleasant to see talent 
and beauty honored anywhere in the world? I 
only thought that the taste of that community for 
fine acting had been better cultivated than their 
taste for fine mountain scenery. 

We got under way on exact time. A Russian 
railway train waits for no one, not even the "divine 
Theresa." Most of the railroads in Russia are 
owned by the government, and all of them are 
under government control. The system of running 
trains is probably the most exact in the world, and 
altogether admirable. All over Russia the same 
method prevails of starting a train from a station. 
A bell, attached to the station, is rung sharp and 
clear, and then is tolled distinctly three times. That 

i6 



242 A WINDING JOURNEY 

means that all passengers shall pay attention, and 
get ready to take their places. After an interval 
of about one minute, the bell is again rung, and 
then tolled twice. That means that all passengers 
must immediately get aboard. After another interval 
of a minute, the bell is rung a third time, and then 
tolled once. That means that the train is ready to 
start. The guards carefully close all doors, when 
the conductor gives a shrill blast on a whistle, which 
is answered by the engineer from the locomotive. 
The train then moves, and no one is allowed to 
step on to it after it is in motion. The same system 
is followed at every station, on every railway, in 
the whole empire. Night or day, you know by the 
uniform signal bells just how much time you have 
and just what to do. 

Nowhere in the world is the pre-empting of a 
vacant seat in a railway carriage, by placing in it 
a valise, an overcoat, an umbrella, or other article^ 
more profoundly respected than in Russia. If you 
leave your seat, you must always protect your right 
to it by putting some article belonging to you in 
your place. If you leave it empty, you forfeit all 
title to it. Conductors and guards are instructed 
to enforce the rule, and in Russia all orders to 
subordinate officials are strictly obeyed. At every 
station there are official porters, dressed in uniform, 
with numbers conspicuous on their caps, ready to 
carry for you a valise or any other article. They 
are not permitted to address you or solicit employ- 
ment. They are noiseless, perfectly respectful, and 



AROUND THE WOULD. 243 

always contei^ted with what you choose to give 
them. Signs are just as effective with them as 
words. In the great city of Moscow, simply by 
using two Russian words that I had picked up by 
the way, one meaning carriage, the other hotel, 
with a few signs quietly made to one of these 
silent porters, I got from the railway station to the 
Dussaux, two miles away, not only without trouble 
but with absolute comfort. This kind of service 
is perfect in Russia. It is excellent in Germany. 
It is very good in France. It is fair elsewhere on 
the continent and in England. In America we 
have no such service at all. Every railroad should 
be obliged to provide it. 

We proceeded towards Rostov, between four 
and five hundred miles away, at the safe pace of 
fifteen to eighteen miles an hour. The passengers 
were very polite and helpful to me. The Russians 
detest the Germans, dislike the English, mistrust 
the French, but fancy the Americans. The nobles 
speak French, but the mercantile class usually 
speak German, in addition to their own tongue. 
With the really intelligent and educated, those 
able to give me information about the country, I 
was fortunately able to hold conversation in some 
language that I knew. One young Russian, fresh 
from the university, evidently belonging to a family 
of the landed aristocracy of the south, made himself 
especially agreeable and useful to me. At the 
eating stations he would get out with me and help 
me to call for what I wanted. Through the medium 



244 A WINDING JOURNEY 

of French he set about giving me some lessons in 
Russian. He would pronounce some useful word 
and make me repeat it till I became familiar with 
it, and then take some other word. In that way 
I learned the Russian words for tea, water, wine, 
bread, dinner, railroad, hotel, etc. I would advise 
any one intending to travel in Russia, not already 
familiar with the difficult language, to learn the 
alphabet and at least a hundred words for things 
constantly needed. Even that much knowledge of 
the language will be very helpful. The perception 
of a Russian is exceedingly vivid and a single 
word will often enable him to understand your 
wants. With the half-dozen words for soap, paper, 
pencil, shoes, socks, pocket-handkerchief, I found 
I could go shopping alone quite successfully. With 
another half-dozen words for street, hotel, church, 
carriage, right, left, and the numerals, it was 
possible for me to go about a city without a guide. 
Towards evening, we arrived at Mineralnya- 
Vodi, the station for the Caucasian mineral baths, 
and also the station for Kislovodk, the nearest point 
to Mount Elburz. The station, -with its immense 
dining-hall, offices and waiting-rooms, was very 
imposing. That is the point to which all aristo- 
cratic Russia flows, in summer, for its annual hegira 
to the Caucasus. Superb carriages were waiting 
at the station and noble gentlemen and ladies were 
promenading in the gardens, bright with flowers 
and shrubbery, that surrounded the imposing stone 
structure. In sight, among the foot-hills of the 



AHOUND THE WORM). 245 

mountains, embowered in trees, were innumerable 
villas and hotels. Trains were already coming in 
from the west loaded with noble families from 
Moscow and the interior of the empire. One 
would have to travel far to see another scene so 
brilliant and gay. It was the middle of June and 
the hot season was already coming on. 

From Mineralnya-Vodi I went on to Rostov, 
near the head of the Sea of Azov. All day the 
train had been in full view of the great Caucasian 
range, which now was gradually left by veering to 
the northward. Elburz long remained in sight on 
the horizon, standing out grand against the distant 
sky, like a lofty and massive emblem of the 
Russian imperial power. 

I had a letter of introduction from mine 
thoughtful host of the Hotel de London, at Tiflis, 
to the keeper of the restaurant in the central 
railway station at Rostov. I sent the letter up to 
his office by a waiter, to which he immediately 
responded in person. He gave me a nice room 
and ordered an excellent breakfast, at which I 
invited him to sit down with me. He was a 
Frenchman of the adventurous kind and exceedingly 
communicative. He had been a captain in the 
French army of Algiers, was wounded there, had 
left the army, for some cause not stated, had 
wandered to Russia, had married a handsome 
Russian wife, had finally drifted to Rostov, where 
he became keeper and proprietor of the immense 
restaurant in the central railway station, and was 



246 A WINDING JOURNEY 

rapidly making a fortune. Altogether an agreeable,, 
intellierent, and useful fellow was the French ex- 
captain. He took me about Rostov, and showed 
me more in several hours than I could have found 
alone in several days. Perhaps I paid him exorbi- 
tantly for what I ate and drank, but I fared 
sumptuously, and the special services were worth 
more than the cost. 

Rostov is situated on high ground, at the com- 
mencement of the delta of the Don, as it enters 
the Sea of Azov. We crossed a bridge of great 
length, to the right bank of the Don, before 
reaching the city. It has about seventy thousand 
inhabitants. More than twenty factories produce 
leather, maccaroni, soap, ropes, cast-iron, bricks, 
and tobacco. It exports wheat, linseed, tallow, 
and iron. The fortress of St. Dimitri was built 
there in 1749, to which the growth of the town is 
due. Rostov is now the center of trade in that 
part of Russia. 

My everlasting friend, as the enthusiastic French 
ex-captain called himself, procured me a through 
ticket to Moscow, about seven hundred miles 
distant, by way of Woronesch, Griasi, and Koslow, 
with only one change of cars, and the privilege of 
stopping over several days at any place. It is the 
trunk line to the north, to which converge the 
railways from the Volga on the east, and from 
the border on the south-west. Thus I had the 
opportunity of seeing a great variety of people 
from different parts of European Russia. 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 247 

The journey was through the richest agricultural 
region of the empire. In the extreme south the 
farmers were beginning to harvest the wheat. It 
is a prairie country, not unlike portions of Illinois, 
Iowa, and Missouri. The machinery used in har- 
vesting looked as though it might have been made, 
perhaps was made, in the United States. Fields 
of growing crops were not enclosed by fences. 
Large herds of cattle were grazing in pastures 
alongside of standing grain, which they showed no 
signs of invading. I asked a Russian for the 
cause of such a singular phenomenon, who explained 
to me that if the cattle encroached upon the for- 
bidden ground they were set upon by fierce dogs 
and so learned to keep their place. Trained dogs, 
he said, cost much less than fences, especially in 
regions where there is little timber. 

The people all lived in villages, or in groups 
of houses resembling villages, and not in isolated 
habitations on the farms. The land is not owned 
by individuals, but by the village communities, or 
the meres. It is parceled out, for the purpose of 
tillage, by the community to individuals who retain 
possession only for a limited period. It seemed 
curious that the custom prevailed everywhere of 
thatching all buildings with straw, the most com- 
bustible kind of material. A very intelligent 
Russian gentleman said to me that the peasants 
could not be persuaded to build otherwise, and 
that, as a necessary result, when one house took 
fire a whole village was burned. 



248 A WINDING JOUENEY 

These village communities, or meres, which exist 
throughout the greater part of rural Russia, main- 
tain a system of local self-government quite as 
democratic as the old colonial town-meetings of 
New England. They elect their own local officers 
in a general assembly of the people. They make 
their own regulations for governing their community. 
They collect their own taxes and pay over in a 
lump the portion due the imperial exchequer. In 
this respect, Russia is the most democratic country 
in Europe, or in the whole world. The instinct 
of self-government seems to belong to the Slavs as 
well as to the other branches of the Aryan family. 

The steppes, or prairies, through which I was 
passing, are the grazing region of Rus^a, sustakiing 
fifty millions of sheep, more than twenty millions 
of horses, and an equal number of cattle. The 
horses of Russia are fine as well as numerous. 
There is no difficulty in properly mounting the vast 
number of cavalry in the army. In this region, as 
well as elsewhere, swine abound. Consequently the 
export of brushes and bristles from the empire is 
very large. This region produces, besides wheat, 
hemp, tobacco, and vines. Along the rivers there 
are extensive forests of elm, lime, and oak. Here 
is raised the surplus grain which is exported from 
Odessa and other ports. 

In this region one finds the best opportunities 
for observing the fine qualities of the Russian 
peasant. In him are found, to use the language 
of M. Cucheval-Clavigny, "the qualities which make 



AEOUND THE WOELD. 249 

the Russian soldier the most admirable instrument 
of conqivest and colonization. Docile as well as 
brave, easily contented, supporting without com- 
plaint all fatigues and privations, and ready for 
everything; he constructs roads, clears canals, and 
re-establishes the ancient aqueducts. He makes 
the bricks with which he builds the forts, and the 
barracks which he inhabits ; he fabricates his own 
cartridges and projectiles ; he is a mason, a metal- 
founder, or carpenter, according to the need of 
the hour, and the day after he is dismissed he 
contentedly follows the plow." The peasant, how- 
ever, loves strong drink and will stand more of 
it than any other man in the world. He never 
becomes quarrelsome in his cups nor allows himself 
to lose his manhood and prey upon the public as 
a drunken vagabond. The Russian peasant is every- 
where well fed and comfortably clothed. Nowhere 
in the empire did I see a beggar or observe any 
signs of degeneracy of race. 

The next morning after my arrival at Moscow 
I drove out to Sparrow Hill, beyond the limits, to 
study the topography of the city. It was there 
that the great Napoleon looked down upon Moscow 
after, as he supposed, he had broken the power of 
Russia at Borodino. It was there, as we may 
suppose, that he meditated the grandiloquent pro- 
clamation by which he hoped to fool the Russian 
people into submission to his rule. There was not 
another people on earth so difficult to fool, or with 
a tougher will. 



250 A WINDING JOURNEY 

At first the city appeared to me an irregular 
mass of buildings, spread out widely, with many 
spires of churches rising at intervals in a confused 
maze. Closer observation, with the aid of a map 
and a good glass, showed the Kreml, or Kremlin, 
on an eminence in the center, with its heavy sur- 
rounding wall nearly two miles in circumference, 
enclosing religious temples, an arsenal, and an 
imperial palace, whose gilded and colored domes 
were resplendent in the morning sun, bearing some 
resemblance to the Acropolis at Athens, or the 
Capitol at Rome. The river Moskva runs through 
the city, winding under the walls of the Kremlin, 
crossed by stone bridges which look very picturesque. 
On the north side of the river boulevards circle 
round the Kremlin, about one mile from its center. 
Half a mile farther out is another circle of boule- 
vards. The outer rampart of the city has a 
circumference of more than twenty miles. Gardens, 
parks, palaces, and convents enrich the view of a 
semi-oriental city, which is the ecclesiastical capital 
of the [empire. Thus Moscow in its essential out- 
lines became for me a reality and not a shadow of 
the imagination or the misty creation of a waking 
dream. 

I spent most of the day at Sparrow Hill. The 
next day I devoted to the Kremlin. Five gates 
pierce its massive walls, which are surmounted by 
eighteen towers. I entered by the Spaski Vorota, 
or the Redeemer's Gate, in passing through which 
you must walk with bared head. The gate is so- 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 251 

called because over it hangs a picture of the Savior 
of Smolensk, which the people of Moscow, in fact 
of all Russia, hold in great veneration. Rising 
above all other objects is the Tower of Ivan 
Veliki, or John the Great, 325 feet high, surmounted 
by a magnificent gilded dome, and containing thirty 
bells, the largest of which weighs more than fifty 
tons. I climbed it and obtained a nearer view of 
the Kremlin and the city than from Sparrow Hill. 
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin, 
founded in the fourteenth century, and rebuilt in 
the following century, is not large, but costly with 
precious stones and gold. In it are crowned the 
Czars of Russia. The last coronation there was 
that of the present Czar, in 1883. Close by, the 
Cathedral of the Archangel Michael contains the 
tombs of the Czars down to the time of Peter 
the Great, who changed the place of imperial 
sepulture to St. Petersburg. The Cathedral of the 
Annunciation is but a few paces away, the floor 
of which is paved with cornelian, jasper, and agate, 
of various forms. The Czar Kolokol — the bell 
named from the title of the sovereign — the great 
bell cast during the reign of the Empress Anne, 
weighing 288,000 pounds, stands on a pedestal 
near the wall of the Kremlin. A great piece has 
been broken out of it which, as I saw it, lies partly 
embeded in the ground. 

There are other sacred edifices in the citadel 
of Moscow, but it is not necessary to describe 
them here. 



252 A WINDING JOURNEY 

The Arsenal is a magnificent building, containing 
armor of all kinds, and surrounded by the striking 
trophy of 750 cannon taken from the French. 

Within the sacred enclosure is the imperial 
palace, built by the Czar Nicholas, in 1 838-1 849. 
It contains some very good pictures by Guido and 
Correggio, and at the head of the great marble 
stairway is a painting, recently completed, by a 
Russian painter, representing the present Czar 
addressing the assembled heads of the subordinate 
governments of the empire, which is of historical 
interest, and is commendable as a production of 
art. The hall in white, dedicated to St. George, 
200 feet long and 68 feet wide, is one of the finest 
in the whole world, and is used as the banquet- 
hall after a coronation. The hall of Vladimir, in 
red, is of the same width and 103 feet long. The 
hall of St. Andrew, in blue, is of the same width 
and 168 feet long. The treasury department, not 
unlike the Tower of London, contains ancient 
German and Russian armor, the coronation chairs 
of different emperors, the throne of Alexis, with 
1,223 rubies, pearls, and turquoises. The boots of 
Peter the Great are found in the wardrobe. A 
globe, sent to the Prince of Kiev by the Byzantine 
Emperors Constantine and Basil, is resplendent 
with sapphires, pearls, rubies, emeralds, and dia- 
monds. The council hall of the patriarchs reminds 
one that the Czar is the pope of the Greek Church 
in Russia as well as the political Emperor. 

Outside of the wall of the Kremlin is the 




NICHOLAS I OF RUSSIA. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 253 

Temple of the Savior, begun in 1812, to com- 
memorate the repulse of the French, and completed 
in 1 88 1, resplendent with marble, precious stones, 
and gold, costing not less than thirty millions of 
rubles. 

Perhaps the most remarkable, certainly the most 
curious, edifice in Moscow, is the Church of Vassili, 
the Blessed, near the Kremlin. It has eleven 
towers. In fact it consists of a number of chapels, 
grouped in a single building, each chapel running 
up into an independent spire. The church was 
built by Ivan the Terrible, in 1554, to commemorate 
the victory of Kazan. The architect was an Italian, 
whose eyes were put out by Ivan, to prevent the 
possibility of his building another such a marvel 
for some other monarch. The story would be more 
probable if it ran that the terrible Czar put out his 
eyes in vengeance for building such a monstrosity 
at all. Russia was indebted to Italian architects 
for all the fine cathedrals in the Kremlin. 

I spent two or three days more at Moscow, 
driving about the city, for the purpose of observing 
or visiting its boulevards, its public gardens, its 
university, which is the oldest in Russia; its great 
prison, from which mournful processions frequently 
move to Siberia; its convents; its manufacturing 
establishments, which produce large quantities of 
silk and cotton goods ; its bazars, gorgeous with 
the finest silver-ware in the world ; its museum, 
rich in Russian art and antiquities; and its Found- 
ling Hospital, where 13,000 nameless children, it 



254 A WINDING JOURNEY 

is said, are received every year. The existence of 
this last institution would seem to indicate a lax 
state of morals in the "holy" city. The kindly 
and religious care of foundlings, however, might 
indicate a less wicked form of immorality than 
the prevalence of foeticide, which is lamented by 
many clergymen and physicians in the United 
States. It is not worth while to condemn a par- 
ticular foreign community for a vice that unhappily 
exists everywhere, without taking a comprehensive 
statistical view of the disagreeable subject. 

I was within a short railway journey of Nijni 
Novgorod, but I did not go there for the reason 
that the great fair, the greatest in the world, 
would not take place till some weeks later. Russia 
is famous for its fairs. From the fifteenth of July 
to the fifteenth of August, each year, Chinese, 
Persian, Hindu, and European merchants flock to 
Nijni Novgorod, more than 200,000 in number, 
with stocks of the products and manufactures of 
the world. The volume of business transacted is 
immense. Next in importance is the fair of Irbit, 
in February and March, on the Asiatic side of 
the Ural Mountains, in the government of Perm, 
for the products of Siberia. To the great winter 
fair of Kharkof, in the Ukraine, for the sale of 
wool and horses, there frequently come nearly 
100,000 sledges. 

From Moscow I went on, 400 miles, to St. 
Petersburg, by the straight line railroad, which 
the Emperor Nicholas laid out with a ruler 



AKOUND THE WOELD. 255 

and a single stroke of his pencil. Swamps, 
forests of small pine and poplar, scant habitations, 
barren soil, and absence of towns, characterized 
the whole route. There, as elsewhere all over 
Russia, the houses of the peasants are constructed 
of logs and thatched with straw. The logs of 
which they are built are of small and uniform size, 
mostly pine. They are almost always neat-looking, 
sometimes attractive and picturesque. Many of 
the habitations are surrounded with shrubbery and 
flowers. The general absence of squalor is a 
striking feature. 

The great distances over which one travels in 
Russia gives one a vivid sense of the vastness of 
the empire. The European portion of it is 1,700 
miles long from north to south, and 1,400 miles 
wide from east to west. The country generally is 
low and flat. Between the Caucasus and the Ural, 
the only elevation reaching a thousand feet above 
the sea-level is that of the Valdai Hills, in which 
the River Volga takes its rise. The climate is 
various. The tundras, bordering the Arctic Ocean, 
are severely cold and destitute of vegetation. The 
great forest region, of which Moscow is the center, 
produces all the grain needed by the people, and 
a surplus for export. The southern steppes, or 
prairies, of which I have already spoken, produce 
a superabundance of horses, cattle, grain, and wool. 
The fisheries of the Caspian, Black, and Azov seas 
are productive above the wants of the inhabitants. 
The mineral belt of the Ural is the richest in 



256 ' A WINDING JOURNEY 

Europe, yielding iron, copper, gold, platinum, lead, 
and silver, in great profusion. Coal is not so 
abundant as in Belgium and England, but its place 
is supplied by the exhaustless quantity of petroleum 
on the western shore of the Caspian. Timber 
of various kinds is exported to other European 
countries. Russian leather is famous, and a vast 
amount of furs are gathered from Siberia and the 
north. Russia exports to the west raw materials 
and receives manufactured goods in return. From 
Asia she receives raw materials and sends back 
manufactures. 

Russia labors under the enormous disadvantage 
of having no access to the ocean in winter. All 
her seas and navigable rivers are frozen over during 
several months of the year. Millions of sledges 
and abundance of good horses serve to collect 
goods in winter, and thus supplement in part the 
defect of navigation. And twenty thousand miles 
of good railways, built during and since the reign 
of the Czar Nicholas, several lines of which run 
to meet roads from central Europe, give Russia 
access to the outer world, even when the rivers 
and seas are sealed with ice. 

Among the builders of cities Peter the Great 
stands foremost. With genius and mighty energy 
he determined that his inland empire should have 
connection by water with the other States of 
"Europe. He built St. Petersburg under difficulties 
that seem appalling and insurmountable. Its situa- 
tion, as Goethe remarks, " recalls that of Amsterdam, 





U:^ 



PETER THE GREAT. 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 257 

or of Venice." "The wide and majestic Neva," 
says M. Rambaud, "which issues from the great 
lakes of the north, there divides into four arms, 
the great and Httle Neva, and the great and Httle 
Nevka. If we add to these her numerous affluents, 
the Fontanka, the Okhta, and the two Tchernaias, 
we shall at present find about fourteen watercourses, 
a lake, eight canals, and nineteen islands. It is 
the aquatic city par excellence, and is exposed to 
terrible inundations when the prodigious reservoirs 
of the Ladoga and Onega overflow. No building 
is ever made there without first strengthening the 
foundation by driving in innumerable piles of wood. 
When Peter the Great first cast his eyes over the 
country, . . . there were only dark forests, vast 
marshes, dreary wastes, where, according to the poet, 
*a Tchoud fisherman, a sorrowful son of his step- 
mother, Nature, might occasionally be seen alone on 
the marshy shore, casting his worn-out line into 
the nameless waters.' The Finnish names then 
borne by the islands, on which palaces were after- 
wards to rise, are very significant ; there were the 
Isle of Brushwood, the Isle of Birches, the Isle 
of Goats, the Isle of Hares, the Isle of Buffaloes, 
Isle Michael (a name for the bear), and the Wild 
Isle. In Enicary, or 'the Isle of Hares,' Peter 
built, in 1703, the new fortress (Saint Peter and 
Saint Paul). There he assembled regular soldiers, 
Cossacks, Tatars, Kalmucks, Ingrian or Canelian 
natives, and peasants of the interior, in all more 
than 40,000 men. No tools were provided for their 
17 



258 A WINDING JOiyHNEY 

first labors; the moujik dug the soil with sticks or 
his nails, and carried the earth in his caftan. He 
had to sleep in the open air among the marshes; 
he often lacked food, and the workmen died by 
thousands. Afterwards the service was made more 
regular. Peter installed himself in the celebrated 
little wooden house on the right bank, watching 
the building, sometimes piloting with his own hand 
the first Dutch ships which ventured into these 
waters, sometimes giving chase to Swedish vessels, 
which came to insult the infant capital. On the 
Isle of Buffaloes, on the northern bank of the 
Neva, afterwards the Vassili-Ostrof, numerous 
edifices arose ; the southern bank, which became 
the real site of the town, was at that time neglected. 
It only contained the Admiralty, to which Anne 
Ivanovna added a spire ; the Church of Saint 
Isaac, then built of wood, now of marble and 
bronze ; that of Saint Alexander Nevski, where 
Peter the Great deposited the remains of the first 
conqueror of the Swedes ; the house of Apraxine, 
where Elizabeth built the Winter Palace ; the 
already splendid hotels of the Millionai'a; and where 
the Nevski Prospect, the most magnificent boulevard 
in Europe, was to run. The city was built by dint 
of edicts. Fins, Esthonians, Tatars, Kalmucks, 
Swedish prisoners, and merchants of Novgorod 
were transplanted thither; and in 1707 they were 
aided by 30,000 day laborers from the country. 
To attract all the masons of the empire, it was 
forbidden on pain of exile and confiscation to con- 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 259 

struct stone houses anywhere but in St. Petersburg. 
Every proprietor owning five hundred peasants was 
obHged to raise a stone house of two stories ; those 
who were poor clubbed together to build one among 
themselves. Every boat that wanted to enter had 
to bring a certain number of white stones, for 
stone was lacking in these wastes. Forage was 
also wanting, and to save forage Peter proscribed 
the use of carriages, and encouraged navigation 
by the river and canals; every inhabitant must 
have his boat; the Court could only be approached 
by water. 

"In 1706 Peter wrote to Menchikof that all 
was going on wonderfully, and that 'he seemed 
here in paradise.' He decorated the church of 
the fortress with carvings in ivory, the work of 
his own hands ; hung it with flags conquered from 
the Swedes ; consecrated there his little boat, 
' ancestor of the Russian fleet ; ' and, breaking 
through the tradition which insisted on the princes 
being buried at Saint Michael, at Moscow, chose 
out at Saint Peter and Saint Paul his own tomb 
and that of his successors. ' Before the new capital,' 
says Pouchkine, ' Moscow bared her head, as an 
imperial widow bows before a young Czarina.' 

" St. Petersburg had another enemy besides the 
Swedes — inundations. The soil was not yet raised 
by the incessant heaping up of materials; the 
granite quays did not yet confine the formidable 
river. In 1705 nearly the whole town was flooded; 
in 1 72 1 all the streets were navigable, and Peter 



260 A WINDING JOURNEY 

was nearly drowned in the Nevski Prospect. The 
enemies of reform, exasperated by the desertion 
of Moscow, rejoiced over these disasters, and pre- 
dicted that the German town, built by foreign hands 
and soiled by the presence of heretic temples, would 
disappear beneath the floods. One day the place 
of this cursed city should be sought in vain. Even 
at the end of the reign of Peter, it was the 
general opinion that after his death the Court and 
the nobility would return to Moscow, and that the 
city and the fleet created by the Czar would be 
abandoned. They were mistaken ; the town that 
he had flung like a forlorn hope on the newly- 
conquered soil remained the seat of the empire. 
Russia is almost the only State that has built her 
capital on her very frontiers. St. Petersburg was 
to be not only the 'window' open to the west, but 
it was to be also the center of the Russian regen- 
eration. More freely, more completely than at 
Moscow the holy, where everything recalled the 
traditions and recollections of the past, Peter could 
enthrone at St. Petersburg the sentiments of tolera- 
tion of the Protestant and Catholic religions, and 
sympathy for strangers, who were always detested 
at Moscow. He could more easily persuade the 
nobles to adopt German fashions, to speak western 
languages, to cultivate sciences and useful arts, to 
discard with the national caftan the old Russian 
prejudices. At Moscow, the city of the Czars, 
foreigners were confined to the German slobode ; 
at St. Petersburg, the city of the Emperors, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 261 

the Russian and the stranger would meet and 
mingle." 

St. Petersburg is a newer city than New York. 
In little more than a century and a half it has 
grown to a population of eleven or twelve hundred 
thousand. It is the political, while Moscow is the 
religious capital of the empire. Its appearance Is 
more modern, more western, less oriental. It has 
outstripped the older city in population by at least 
one-third. The red and green roofs, the pale- 
yellow walls of Moscow, are entirely wanting. The 
buildings of St. Petersburg, on the principal streets, 
are massed in solid blocks, like the squares of 
battalions. On the narrower streets, the buildings 
stand in long gray lines, like the soldiers of an 
army halting on a march. There are five hundred 
streets, but no alleys and lanes. There are sixty- 
four squares. The city in its very structure has 
a military aspect. 

I first went to the Admiralty buildings, on a 
square of the same name, which present a front 
nearly half a mile long to the deep, clear, broad, 
swiftly-flowing Neva, are 650 feet wide, and have 
a gilded tower 230 feet high. From this tower a 
magnificent view of the city is obtained. At 
Admiralty Square converge the three principal 
streets of the city. One of these, the Nevski 
Prospekt, is 120 feet wide, three miles long, planted 
with trees on either side, and lined with palaces, 
churches, and public buildings. As already said, 
it is the finest boulevard in Europe, or in the world. 



262 A WINDING JOURNEY 

The dimensions of the palaces on some portions 
of it are such that only fifty occupy a mile. 

The Palace Square, adjoining the Admiralty, 
contains the Column of Alexander, erected in 1834, 
150 feet high, which consists of a lofty red granite 
pedestal supporting a shaft of the same material, 
80 feet high, surmounted by the figure of an angel 
and a cross. 

Fronting the Neva, like the Admiralty, the 
Winter Palace, the residence of the Czar, is 450 
feet long, 340 feet wide, three stories high, and is 
inhabited by 7,000 persons, when the Court occu- 
pies it. In 1754 it was commenced for Elizabeth, 
and finished in 1762. In 1837 it was destroyed 
by fire, but was sipeedily rebuilt by the Emperor 
Nicholas. The reception-room of the Empress is 
entirely lined with gold. The throne-room is 140 
feet lone and 60 feet wide. The furniture and 
ornaments are of immense value. As a single 
example, one ornament consists of a tree of gold 
bearing in its branches a cock, an owl, and a 
peacock made up of jewels. It is the largest and 
probably the most magnificent palace , in the world. 

Adjoining the Winter Palace, and connected 
with it by several galleries, also facing the Neva, 
is the Hermitage, which contains 2,000 paintings 
of various schools, sculptures, Greek antiquities, 
Siberian curiosities, early Tatar instruments in stone 
and iron, specimens of porcelain, a coat of mail 
in solid gold weighing thirty pounds, relics of 
Peter the Great, and a library of 120,000 volumes. 



JIOUND THE WOULD. 263 

precious with the collections of Diderot and 
Voltaire. 

In Peter's Square, between the Cathedral of St. 
Isaac and the Neva, stands the famous equestrian 
statue of Peter the Great, eighteen feet high, on 
a huge granite pedestal, erected by Catharine II., 
in 1 768-1 782, and designed by Falconet. 

Of the 150 bridges that span the Neva, unite 
the islands, and cross the canals, only two are 
permanent. All the rest are built on pontoons and 
are removed in winter, when the river is frozen a 
yard and a half deep. Proper foundation for a 
permanent bridge can be made only by driving 
three tiers of piles, top of one another, and so 
close together as practically to form a solid mass. 
The bridge on which the Emperor Alexander was 
assassinated has been closed up. 

Not far from the Admiralty is the Cathedral 
of St. Isaac, 330 feet long, 290 feet broad, and 
310 feet high. The foundations cost a million of 
dollars. Catherine II. commenced it a century 
ago, but it was rebuilt in 18 19-1858. Like all 
other Greek churches it is in the form of a Greek 
cross. It is surrounded, on the four sides, with 
112 pillars. Those on the side of the main 
entrance are polished granite monoliths, seven feet 
in diameter, brought from Finland. The main 
dome is surmounted with a massive cross covered 
with copper, overlaid with gold. For the gilding 
of the main dome and four smaller ones, it is said, 
fourteen bushels of gold coin were melted down. 



264 A WINDING JOURNEY 

The Kazan Cathedral, on the NevskI Prospekt, 
is the largest of the 350 churches in St. Petersburg. 
It is approached by two circular colonades, which 
colossal statues adorn. Facing the cathedral are 
the statues of Barclay de Tolly, and of Kutusof, 
who commanded the Russian army at the terrible 
battle of Borodino. In the interior is a double 
row of marble columns, each fifty-six feet high, 
and cut from a single block. The floor and walls 
are also of marble. Before the sanctuary is a 
balustrade, the pillars of which are twenty feet 
high and of solid silver. Picture frames and 
beams are of the same material. The silver was 
presented by the Cossacks, after the campaign of 
181 2-14, as an offering to the Holy Mother. Rich 
jewels cover the sacred image of Our Lady of 
Kazan. 

Within the citadel, on the other side of the 
Neva, is the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, 
in which are buried the remains of Peter the Great 
and of all his successors, except Peter II. 

Near by is the famous log hut of Peter the 
Great, protected by a building around and over 
it, which contains the simple furniture and many 
interesting relics of the monarch. 

The Imperial Library, on the Nevski Prospekt, 
contains 1,100,000 printed books and 35,000 manu- 
scripts. In it is preserved the Codex SInaiticus, 
or the Codex of Tischendorf, which is celebrated 
among biblical scholars throughout Christendom. 

The School of Mines contains the richest museum 



AROUND THE WORLD. 265 

of minerals in the world. In it are specimens of 
all the mineral products of Russia. I saw there 
and was allowed to handle a block of malachite, 
weighing 4,000 pounds, valued at nearly 100,000 
dollars, and a lump of virgin gold, from Siberia, 
weighing eighty pounds. 

The Artillery Museum, in the Old Fort, inter- 
ested me greatly, for it contained specimens of 
cannon of all periods and all countries. There I 
saw the ancestor of the Gatling gun, and a revolver 
a hundred years older than Colt's patent. 

It is unnecessary, however, to describe the 
wonderful city of St. Petersburg in greater detail. 
Boats and street-cars run in all directions, at all 
hours of the day, enabling one to visit hundreds 
of interesting places with great rapidity. St. 
Petersburg is a city of palaces, and contains 
institutions of every kind. Nowhere else has 
there been such a lavish expenditure of money, 
such energy displayed, such rich results obtained 
under such adverse circumstances of location and 
climate, in so brief a time. 

I met there the American Minister, Hon. 
G. V. N. Lothrop, whom I had known at home. 
He invited me to dine, and I spent a pleasant 
evening with him and his accomplished wife and 
daughters. An imperial minister of the Czar, with 
whom I shortly afterwards traveled in company 
from the Russian capital to Stockholm, observed 
to me that my country was worthily represented 
at the Court of St. Petersburg. The remark, 



266 A WINDING JOURNEY 

coming from a high dignitary, in the habit of 
measuring his words, was intended to be, and was, 
a high comphment to Mr. Lothrop. 

At length I regretfully left the city founded 
by Peter the Great. We sailed past the frowning 
fortresses of Cronstadt, in the long northern twilight. 
Behind innumerable granite islands, on the low, 
rocky, Finnish coast, the steamer carefully followed 
a course marked out by buoys, which, with infinite 
labor, are taken up in autumn and replaced, after 
ice disappears, in spring. We stopped a whole 
day at the beautiful city of Helsingfors, the capital 
of Russian Finland. The town contains a university, 
and its environment of hills, clothed with evergreen 
woods, are exceedingly picturesque. The harbor 
is capacious and excellent. The old fortress, bom- 
barded by the English fleet, during the Crimean 
war, has been supplemented by earthworks, rendering 
the place impregnable. 

In the night after leaving Helsingfors, the 
boat lay-to, behind an island, during a strong gale. 
There we found ourselves within a ship's length of 
the Emperor's yacht. I saw him serenely pacing 
the deck, as though such a thing as a nihilist did 
not exist in his dominions. 




ALEXANDER ni OP RUSSIA. 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 267 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PLACE OF RUSSIA IN THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM. 

HERODOTUS, in his truthful, credulous way, gives 
an amusing yet interesting account of the 
.:. Scythians and the various tribes that, four 
or five centuries before the Christian era, occupied 
the territory where the center of the great Russian 
Empire now is. They dwelt' beyond the line of 
numerous Greek colonies on the northern shore of 
the Euxine or Black Sea. The Scythians, according 
to the father of history, worshiped a sword stuck 
in the ground, and bathed it with the blood of 
human sacrifices. They scalped their prisoners, 
like the North American Indians, drank the blood 
of enemies first killed in battle, and made drinking- 
cups of their skulls. The sepulture of their chiefs 
was attended with terrible barbaric rites, and their 
anniversaries were celebrated with sacrifices of 
strangled horses and slaves. 

Herodotus tells marvelous stories of various 
tribes inhabiting the country, which he carefully 
discriminates from the Scythians. The Issedones 
devoured their parents with ceremonious pomp. 
The Arimaspians were one-eyed. The Argippei 
were snub-nosed and bald-headed from birth. The 



268 A WINDING JOURNEY 

SauromatI had their origin in the union of the 
Amazons and the Scythians. The Agathirsi had 
their women in common, and wore ornaments of 
gold. The Neuri, once a year, became were- 
wolves. ^The Hyperboreans dwelt where the snow 
falls, like a shower of white feathers, every month 
in the year. Archaeologists have attempted to 
identify these tribes, without marked success. Some 
historians and travelers still attempt to amuse their 
readers by giving equally fictitious and fanciful 
accounts of the Russian people to-day. 

The Scythians, who lived as neighbors of the 
Greek colonists of the Euxine, have a more tangible 
historic existence than that of the barbaric tribes. 
It has been ascertained that their speech belonged 
to the Indo-European, or Aryan, family of languages. 
In the museum of the Hermitage at St. Petersburg 
I carefully studied two famous vases. One is the 
silver vase of Nicopol, belonging to the fourth 
century before Christ. It represents the Scythians 
breaking and handling their horses exactly as the 
inhabitants of that region (Ekaterinoslaf) break 
and handle them now. The same long hair and 
beard, the same broad features, the same costume 
and stature are observable. The other is a golden 
vase, of the same date, on which the Scythians 
are represented with peaked paps, ornamented and 
embroidered garments, and peculiar bows, like 
Asiatic nomads of a warlike and royal caste. The 
Aryan type of the Scythians represented on both 
vases is unmistakable. 



AROUND THE "WORLD. 269 

Here we see the tap-root of the Russian people. 
The Slavs were the third swarm of Aryans migrating 
from Asia into Europe. They constitute the main 
portion of the inhabitants of the central part 
of eastern Europe — of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, 
Bohemia, Old Prussia, and certain districts in 
Hungary and the Balkan Peninsula. They crowded 
the Teutons, an earlier swarm of Aryans, from 
eastern Europe. The Teutons turned upon them, 
from time to time, drove them back, and acquired 
territory at their expense. And the Slavs are 
the only Aryan people in Europe who were com- 
pelled to yield territory to a Turanian nation. 
The Hunofarians crowded themselves in and built 
a kingdom that exists to this day. The Ottoman 
Turks also wrested lands from the Slavs in south- 
eastern Europe, on which they still retain their 
hold. Russia's mission of Panslavism, therefore, has 
a foundation as old as modern European history. 

The history of the relations of Russia to sur- 
rounding countries may be told sufficiently for my 
present purpose in briefest outline. 

The most sisfnificant fact of all is that the 
Aryan Slavs maintained themselves, without loss 
of distinctive character, in the midst of the most 
tumultuous migrations of peoples during the earliest 
centuries of the Christian era. They absorbed 
and assimilated others ; were absorbed and assimi- 
lated by none. Their existence to-day is a clear 
example of the law, valid in history as elsewhere^ 
of the survival of the fittest. 



270 A WINDING JOURNEY 

After the struggling, slowly organizing branches 
of the- Slav family in Russia had called in Norman 
chieftains as rulers, they made their first attempt to 
seize Constantinople, and almost succeeded. Their 
expeditions by sea and land shook the Eastern 
Empire to its foundation. They fought with a 
desperate valor, not surpassed in the annals of the 
world. Innumerable legends obscure the subject, 
but from the Byzantine historians we may gather 
a vivid impression of the fearful straits to which 
the Greek Emperor was reduced in his life and 
death conflict with the Varangian leader of the 
half-formed Russian people. That was long before 
the Ottoman Turks had invaded Europe. The 
attempt to seize Constantinople has been many 
times repeated, and the end is not yet. 

The introduction of Byzantine Christianity into 
Russia, initiated by the Scandinavian Princess Olga, 
is a fact of the greatest national importance. " It 
is important," says the Russian historian Bistoujef- 
Rioumine, "that Christianity came to us from 
Byzantium, where the Church put forth no pre- 
tensions of governing the State, a circumstance 
which preserved us from struggles between the 
secular and spiritual power — between the national 
and a foreign power." " No doubt," says M. 
Rambaud, "an ecclesiastical language which, thanks 
to Cyril and Methodius, mingled with the national 
language, and became intelligible to all classes 
of society ; a purely national Church, which was 
subject to no foreign sway ; the absolute indepen- 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 271 

dence of the civil power and national development, 
were the inestimable advantages that Byzantine 
Christianity brought into Russia." As early as 
the sixteenth century the Russo-Greek Church was 
separated from the Byzantine Patriarchate, which 
has enabled the Russians to maintain their double 
advantage of entire independence of foreign eccle- 
siastical influence, and of preserving the identity 
of the language of the Church and the language 
of the people. 

At about the same time, the Slavs of Poland 
and Bohemia were converted to Latin Christianity. 
Thus was introduced an element of religious discord 
between the Russians and the other Slavonian 
peoples of eastern Europe. 

In the thirteenth century, the Moguls, known 
in- history as Tartars, who were neither Mohamedans 
nor Christians, came from distant and unknown 
parts of Asia, and invaded Europe, under the 
leadership of Jenghiz Khan, or Temujin. Russia 
was overrun by them. They were more cruel than 
Turks or Saracens. They ravaged, under Batou 
Khan, as far westward as Silesia, and overcame 
the Teutonic knights in battle, but the only lasting 
dynasty established by them in Europe was at 
Kasan, on the Volga, from which they ruled the 
Russians with a rod of iron and subjected them 
to tribute. 

Near the close of the fourteenth century, the 
Duke of Lithuania married the Queen of Poland. 
The two countries, thus united, formed one of the 



272 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Strongest kingdoms in Europe. From this union 
sprang the princes of the House of Jagellon, from 
whom Russia suffered in the west, while she was 
oppressed by the Mogul rulers of Kasan in 
the east. 

In 1328 Moscow was rnade the capital, and 
about that city, as a center, the Russians gathered 
themselves together as best they could under very 
adverse circumstances. However, things began to 
mend and, in 1477, Ivan Vasilovitz freed Russia 
from the supremacy of the Tartars or Moguls. 

It is not very strange that the fearful times 
produced Ivan the Terrible, who ruled from 1533 
to 1584. His atrocities have been partly forgotten, 
in gratitude for his more or less successful wars 
waged with Poland and Sweden, and especially 
for his overthrow of the Moguls of Kasan. He 
also took Astrakhan, at the mouth of the Volga, 
and thus secured a port for Russia on the Caspian 
Sea. By the energy of Ivan the Terrible, during 
his long reign, Russia was made more powerful, 
but it was still shut out from the Black Sea by 
the Crim Tartars, and from the Baltic by the 
Poles and Swedes. Russia, however, had the port 
of Archangel, on the White Sea, from which she 
began to carry on commerce with the outer world. 
Ivan was the first of the Russian rulers to assume 
the title of Czar. 

In 1589 the line of Ruric became extinct. 
Although the Poles in 1573 had adopted the fatal 
policy of electing each new king, the power of 



AROUND THE WORLD. 273 

the kingdom was still sufficient to impose on the 
Russian people a pretender to the throne. But the 
power of Russia was rapidly increasing and that 
of Poland was already decreasing. In 1613, repre- 
sentatives of the Russian people chose Michael 
Romanoff as ruler, from whom, through the female 
line, the present imperial family has its origin. 
This spontaneous choice of an emperor is the first 
distinct manifestation of conscious national life in 
the Russian people, and as such marks the beginning 
of a new era in their history. 

While Portugal, Spain, France, and England 
were exploring the seas of all the world and 
establishing colonies on the coasts of Africa, on 
the shores of Asia, in the East India islands, in 
north and south America; Russia, not being a 
maritime nation, had to content herself with the 
occupation of Siberia, which then seemed barren 
and worthless, but has since proved to be rich i!'n 
minerals, fertile in large portions, and of almost 
inestimable value to the empire. 

Russia was wrested from her isolation and 

placed in relationship with the rest of Europe by 

the genius of Peter the Great. He began to 

reign in 1682, conjointly with his brother Ivan. 

In 1689, only two centuries ago, he began to 

reign alone. By him the only port of Russia, at 

Archangel, was improved. In 1696 he conquered 

Azof from the Turks, thus gaining a port on the 

Black Sea. In his war with Charles XI I. , of 

Sweden, • he obtained Livonia and other lands east 
18 



274 A "WINDING JOURNEY 

of the Baltic, thus gaining access to another sea. 
We have seen in the previous chapter how he buih a 
new capital for Russia near the outlet of the Neva, on 
territory conquered from Sweden. Peter was the 
first to use the title of Emperor of all the Russias. 

Peter was succeeded by his widow Catharine, 
by his niece Anne, by his daughter Elizabeth, by 
Catharine the Second (after the murder of her 
husband Peter the Third), who successively reigned 
during nearly the whole of the eighteenth century. 
Some of these Romanoff empresses were very able, 
and carried forward the work of Peter the Great 
with wonderful success. The conquest of the 
Crimea, or Crim Tartary, was accomplished under 
Catharine the Second. Russia thus gained free 
access to the Black Sea, and got rid of the last 
remnant of the Tartar dominion. 

In 1772 Empress Catharine of Russia, Frederick 
the Great of Prussia, and Maria Theresa of Austria^ 
made the first partition of Poland. Russia and 
Prussia made another partition in 1793. The three 
powers made a final division of Poland in 1795. 
Russia regained her old territory which had been 
wrested from her by the Poles, together with 
Lithuania, whose inhabitants were Slavs, or at 
least their Aryan kinsfolk. Thus Russia had her 
revenge for wrongs done her, regained her own, 
and liberated Slavs of the Greek Church from 
religious oppression. By this acquisition of territory 
Russia was brought into closer relationship with 
the powers of central and western Europe." 




CATHARINE II OF BUSSIA. 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 275 

By the Treaty of Jassy, in 1792, the Russian 
frontier was extended to the Dniester, at the expense 
of Turkey. Then began the habit of Russian inter- 
ference in the affairs of Turkey, which has continued 
ever since. Whenever Christians and Slavs, impa- 
tient of the oppressive Turkish yoke, have revolted, 
they have naturally been encouraged by Russia. 

During the period that followed the Treaty of 
Tilsit, between Alexander I. and Napoleon, Russia 
acquired Finland in a war with Sweden, extended 
her boundary to the Danube, and obtained a wide 
territory between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea 
in a war with Persia. 

Thus Russia became the leading power in eastern 
Europe, in fact one of the great powers of the 
world. 

When Napoleon invaded Russia, in 181 2, he 
found himself confronted with the rigorous climate 
and a defiant people already conscious of its national 
life and power. Instead of ending a successful 
campaign, as he at first supposed, with the battle 
of Borodino, he was compelled to retrace his steps 
and behold the loss of his magnificent army. 
Russia took a prominent part in his final overthrow, 
and in the reconstruction of Europe. 

Insurrections in Poland have, from time to time, 
been suppressed with great rigor, till its government 
was absolutely incorporated with that of Russia 
in 1868. 

Towards the end of the sixteenth century 
stringent laws were enacted to prevent the peasants, 



276 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the tillers of the soil, from wandering in quest of 
more fertile lands — so stringent, in fact, as to attach 
them to the estates of the nobles and of the crown, 
and reduce them to serfdom or slavery. By an 
imperial decree, in 1861, to take effect in 1863, 
Alexander II. freed all the serfs. No man in the 
whole history of the world has performed so great 
an act with so little public disturbance. To free 
one-fifth as many slaves cost the United States 
three billions of money and half a million of lives. 

Other recent events in Russian history are too 
well known to need even the most summary 
recapitulation here. 

It is very evident to the thoughtful student of 
history that there exists a Russian people, a Russian 
nation, with a distinctive individual life, different 
from any other that has been or now is. The first 
striking manifestation of this national existence was 
the election of Michael Romanoff as emperor. It had 
been growing up from a Slavic root, during many 
centuries, had been nourished at the breast of the 
Greek Church, but then was first shown the organic 
life of an independent people, different from all 
other peoples. In 161 2 the Russians, under Minine 
and Pajarski, besieged the Poles in the Kremlin, 
who, after being reduced to the necessity of eating 
human flesh, capitulated and gave up their prisoners, 
among whom was young Michael Romanoff. "This 
year of 161 2," says M. Rambaud, the historian of 
Russia, " long remained in the memory of the 
nation; and when the invasion of 1812 came to 




ALEXANDER I OF BUSSIA. 



AROUND THE "WORLD, 277 

refresh their recollections, they raised on the Red 
Place a colossal monument to the two liberators, 
the butcher Minine and the Prince Pojarski. 
Russia, once more herself, could proceed freely to 
the election of a Czar. A great National Assembly 
gathered at Moscow. It was composed of the 
great ecclesiastical dignitaries, of delegates nomi- 
nated by the nobles, by the didti-boyarski^, the 
merchants, the towns and the districts. The dele- 
gates had to be furnished with special powers. 
They all agreed that they would have no stranger, 
neither Pole nor Swede. When it became a ques- 
tion of choosing among the Russians, scheming 
and rivalry commenced ; but one name was pro- 
nounced, which gained all the votes, that of Michael 
Romanoff. He was elected, not for his own sake, 
for he was only fifteen years old, but for that of 
his ancestors the Romanoffs, and his father, the 
Metropolitan Philerete, then prisoner at Marienburg. 
The name of Romanoff, of the kin of Ivan IV., 
was the highest expression of the national feeling 

(1613.)" 

When Russia was invaded in 1812, the life of 
the nation manifested itself with new vigor, showing 
that it had increased with the growth of the empire. 
The Czar, in obedience to the national will, against 
the interested wishes of those who surrounded the 
throne, was obliged to retain in command of the 
army Kutusof, in whom was embodied the character- 
istic qualities of the Russian people. After the 
battle of Borodino, the inhabitants of Moscow 



278 A WINDING JOURNEY 

abandoned the city In a mass, before the approach 
of the invaders. None wished to remain to hold 
social intercourse with the enemies of the country. 
Peasants who stole into the burning city to engage 
in plunder had sufficient public virtue to refuse to 
bring produce to the French, even at an enhanced 
price. None labored to stop the burning of the 
"holy" city, for all saw that its destruction increased 
the danger of the invaders. During the retreat 
of Napoleon's army, Russians ruined themselves 
by burning their stores of forage and provisions, 
in order to make the destruction of the enemy 
more complete. Although Count Leon Tolstoi 
recounts these and many other things with vivid 
eloquence, yet he fails to recognize the organic 
life of the Russian people. 

The Russian nation had to wait another half 
century for a man gifted with the insight and 
genius to perceive and express its inner life. As 
Dante gave voice to ten silent centuries, Katkoff, 
the great Moscow journalist, gave tongue to the 
silent Russian people. It is worth while to enquire 
what manner of man he was, and what were his 
preparations for his providential task. 

Michael Nikiforovitch Katkoff was born at 
Moscow, in 1820. He belonged to a noble family. 
He studied at the University of Moscow, then at 
Konisberg, and also at Berlin, where he became 
a follower of Schelling. On his return home, he 
was appointed to the chair of philosophy in Moscow, 
but resigned it in 1849, ^^ account of the restric- 



AHOTJND THE WORLD. 279 

tions placed on university teaching by the Emperor 
Nicholas. In 1856 he established a journal in 
which he advocated self-government on the model 
of the English Constitution, but disavowed any 
sympathy with radicalism and socialism. He became 
editor of the Moscow Gazette in 1861. He had 
grown into apostleship of Russian nationalism, in 
other words he had come to perceive the organic 
existence of the Russian people, and to understand 
its inner meaning. He told revolutionary Poland 
that she had no chance, "but to unite her aspirations 
with those of Russia, and to innoculate herself with 
the principles which have been elaborated in the 
political development of the Russian people." He 
henceforth preached the Russification of the empire, 
on the Vistula, in the Baltic provinces, everywhere. 
He was the real author of the system of education 
adopted in all the gymnasia of Russia. After the 
death of Alexander H. Katkoff was offered the 
portfolio of Minister of Public Instruction, which 
he refused, but accepted the dignity of Privy 
Councillor. If he advocated the abandonment of 
the liberal University Statutes of 1863, which he 
had himself been instrumental in procuring, it was 
in obedience to the spirit of the Russian nation, 
whose life he had come to represent. If he was 
reactionary in politics, it was because he had aban- 
doned liberal theories of government for the prin- 
ciples vitally inherent in the Russian national 
existence. 

The organic Russian people — the Russian nation 



280 A WINDING JOURNEY 

— listened to his voice, for he expressed its real 
meaning in words strong and clear. Russia in him 
listened to her own aspirations, her own resentments, 
her own political and religious beliefs, her own 
dreams of vengeance and aggrandizement, her own 
worship of the temporal and -spiritual power of 
her rulers, her own contempt for those who would 
substitute a foreign and alien life for the life which 
she had lived during a thousand years of struggle, 
suffering, and grim battle. In him Russia proclaimed 
that she was herself, that she was not and could not 
be another. Russia understood him, for he uttered 
the language of her own heart. When the Czar, 
contrary to imperial etiquette, contrary to all pre- 
cedent, made a personal visit to Katkoff, in his 
last" illness, he was rendering homage, not to a 
subject, but to the spirit of his own people, a 
people that had chosen the boy Michael Romanoff 
for its ruler, a people that had conspired with the 
elements to destroy the invaders of Russia, a people 
that at length had found a voice to express the 
thoughts of its own soul, the sentiments of its own 
heart. 

I saw M. Katkoff a few days before his death. 
Cancer of the stomach had nearly finished its 
remorseless work. A cadaver-palor, peculiar to 
the disease, overshadowed his emaciated face in 
which had been plowed deep furrows of thought 
and prolonged mental labor. He had the look of 
one conscious of having a mission, at the same 
time conscious of having completed his toil in this 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 281 

world and already gazing into eternity. The terrible 
earnestness of conviction still gleamed through his 
sunken eyes. 

The funeral of Katkoff showed how dear he 
was to the Russian people. It is thus described 
by the Moscow correspondent of the London Times, 
under date of August 7, 1887: 

"Yesterday the remains of M. Katkoff were committed to the tomb 
in the Alexoffsky Monastery, ten versts from the town, amid most 
remarkable demonstrations of feeling and respect. 

"The body was brought here on Thursday night, from Znamensky, 
to be deposited in the chapel of the deceased's college, the Nicholas 
Lyceum.^ The coffin was carried alternately by the deceased's relatives, 
workmen of the University Press, and peasantry, over the whole distance 
— 20 miles — into Moscow, resting on trestles, and covered with a cloth of 
gold pall ; mutes bearing lighted lamps marching on either side. The lid 
of the plain oak coffin was carried in front of the procession, while the 
empty funeral car, drawn by six horses, almost hidden from view by 
wreaths and flowers, followed at the head of some three hundred carriages. 
The priests and choristers, walking before the open coffin, were dressed in 
white and silver. The procession gathered strength on the way until an 
enormous crowd entered Moscow at near 3 o'clock on Friday morning. 
The priests and people vrith holy water came out of all the villages along 
the road, and at every church the funeral cortege halted for prayers. The 
Governor-General of Moscow, Prince Dolgorouky, met the procession — 
nearly a mile in length — several versts from the town. 

"The coffin — this time closed — was carried in the same manner 
yesterday over ten versts to the Monastery, the car following as before, 
attended the whole way by very large crowds and numerous deputations. 
Unfortunately rain fell most of the time. The Governor-General and the 
mayor and corporation were among the mourners. Before starting the 
usual funeral ordinances were gone through in the Lyceum chapel by the 
Metropolitan and a large body of the clergy. Several touching and 
patriotic orations were delivered in the chapel, and over the grave. On 
passing the offices of the Moscow Gazette the procession again stopped for 
prayers. 

"The Czar's message to the widow made a great impression. Hun- 

1. Founded by M. KatkofiE in 1865. "W. 



282 A WINDING JOURNEY 

dreds of telegrams have arrived from all the Slavonic countries. The 
Moscow and St. Petersburg municipalities have both decided to com- 
memorate the patriotism of M. Katkoff by the erection of busts and the 
establishment of scholarships." 

The great Russian journalist frequently used 
the word " Panslavism." They have greatly mistaken 
M. Katkoff 's meaning who suppose that he intended 
by that term merely to advocate a union of all the 
Slav peoples. The essential feature of his political 
doctrine was to make all parts of the empire 
essentially Russian or Slav. By Panslavism he 
meant the Russification, or Slavification, thus to 
speak, of the whole population. As four-fifths of 
all the subjects of the Czar are Slavs, he meant 
that the remaining one-fifth should be made politi- 
cally homogeneous with the rest. He also meant 
by it that the Catholic fraction of the Slav popu- 
lation should become as thoroughly Russian as the 
main body belonging to the Greek Church. 

The comments of the German press the next 
day after the death of the Russian publicist 
were at least curious. The Kreuz Zeitung said : 
" It is self-evident that as Germans we have no 
word of sorrow at the grave of a man like 
M. Katkoff." "In the decease of M. Katkoff," 
said the Deutsches Tageblatt, "at this moment, 
the dispensation of Providence is manifested just 
in the same way as in the death of Gambetta." 
The Freisinnige Zeitung said : " Germany has 
no reason to mourn over M. Katkoff." The Cologne 
Gazette said : "He was an enemy with whom we 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 283 

Germans gladly crossed swords, because his honor 
and unselfish patriotism ennobled his hatred." "To 
his influence," said the Borsen Zeitung, "the late 
pernicious measures of the vacillating Russian 
Emperor are largely attributable." The Borsen 
Courier said : "His hand was against every man, 
and every man's hand was against him." The tone 
of the Austrian press was the same. The Vienna 
JVeue Freie Presse refused to apply to him the 
maxim de mortuis nil nisi bonum. 

They all forgot that the real thing dreaded by 
Germany and Europe was the organic Russian 
people, the Russian nation, of which M. Katkoff 
was only the mouthpiece. Even the Czar, with 
his autocratic power, cannot change the course of 
the mighty river of Russian national life, still less 
a Moscow journalist. A Czar can do things helpful 
or hurtful to his people, but he cannot uncreate 
what has been growing, like a whole oaken forest, 
more than a thousand years. Nicholas saved 
Austria, the natural enemy of Russia, by crushing 
the Hungarian revolution. By his impolitic treat- 
ment of the successors of his dethroned friend, 
the despotic Charles X., he offended France and 
made the fatal Crimean war a possibility. Nicholas 
died, broken in spirit, but the Russian people con- 
tinued to live with increasing vigor. Alexander \\. 
amiably kept the peace while the King of Prussia 
wrested Slesvig and Holstein from Denmark, crushed 
the Austrian army, helped forward the union of 
Italy, destroyed the military prestige of France, 



284 A WINDING JOURNEY 

and built up a most formidable power on his 
western frontier, but the new peril only more firmly- 
consolidated the Russian nation. The present Czar 
seems to be guiding the organic growth of his own 
people, the natural expansion of his great empire, 
with prudence, sagacity, energy, while wisely leaving 
the other nations of Europe to pursue their own 
destiny. By-and-by will come the statesman of 
Panslavism and its military genius, who will translate 
the life of the Russian people into deeds, as Katkoff 
gave it tongue. There are about twenty millions 
of Slavs in the Austrian Empire, three millions 
in eastern Germany, and several millions in the 
Danubian Principalities and European Turkey. The 
time may come when these, notwithstanding diver- 
gence in religion and partial absorption in other 
nationalities, may listen to the voice of their kin- 
dred organized into a colossal power on the old 
Scythian plains. Nations never forget injuries. 
When England, like an ancient political harlot, 
chose to consider her virtue insulted by the propo- 
sition of the Emperor Nicholas to divide the " Sick 
Man's" spoils, she laid up for herself a harvest of 
vengeance which some day may be reaped on the 
plains of India. More than a hundred Russians, 
from an imperial minister and a supreme judge 
down to a peasant and a droschky driver, made to 
me the common remark : " We shall eo to Con- 
stantinople, if we have to go by the way of 
Calcutta." 

The small political economist and the financier 



AROUND THE WORLD. 285 

tell US that Russia cannot carry on a great war, 
because she is destitute of money. An empire that 
has men, bread, and iron enough and to spare can 
carry on war with depreciated paper currency, as 
the example of the United States, in the great 
war of the Rebellion, clearly demonstrates. 

We are also told that the masses of Russia 
are ignorant and that nothing great, or good, or 
noble, can come from an illiterate people. Many 
millions in Russia were in slavery for three centuries, 
and were not emancipated till twenty-five years ago. 
Yet the Russian masses are not more ignorant 
to-day than were the English masses in the time 
of the Stuarts, or the French masses in the time 
of Louis XV. It is a curious fact that only two 
per cent, of the recruits for the Russian army in 
i860, three years before emancipation, could read 
and write, and that eleven per cent, could read and 
write in 1870, seven years after emancipation. Pro- 
gress in education has been made. In Finland 
there is a separate system of education, and it is 
in advance of all the rest of the empire. Russia 
has universities at Moscow, Dorpat, St. Petersburg, 
Vilna, Warsaw, Kief, Kharkof, and Kazan, and 
each is the center of an educational district. Con- 
siderable sums are appropriated by the government 
for public instruction. Higher education among 
the women of Russia is remarkable. In no other 
country of Europe have so many women found 
their way into the university lecture rooms. There 
were 779 lady students at the different universities 



286 A WINDING JOURNEY 

in 1886. In the literary departments the number 
was 243, in the scientific departments 500, in the 
mathematical 36. Of these, 437 were daughters 
of nobles and high officers in the civil and military- 
service, 125 were daughters of merchants, and 84 
were daughters of clergymen. In addition to these, 
several hundred were studying at foreign univer- 
sities, chiefly in Switzerland. Many Russian women 
graduate in medicine, some of whom have won 
reputation as practitioners. Besides, in this century, 
Russia has produced many renowned writers in 
every department of literature. She seems to be 
vigorously starting out in an intellectual career, in 
which she bids fair to rival other nations. The 
Slavs are the youngest branch of the Aryan family, 
and some centuries hence it may become true of 
them that the last shall be first. The Russian 
language is rich and already contains a body of 
literature inviting to its acquisition. The vocabulary 
of the people is abundant and indicates an aptitude 
for culture. 

Again we are told that the prison system of 
Russia is absolutely Inhuman, and invites the 
condemnatory public opinion of the whole world. 
Rev. Henry Lansdell, D. D., one of the most 
recent and voluminous writers on the subject, 
whose knowledge is ample, whose personal experi- 
ence has been very great, acquired by extensive 
travels throughout the empire and visitation of 
many prisons, whose honesty is transparent, defends 
Russia against any such wholesale charge, giving 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 287 

facts in profuse detail. ''I have never maintained," 
he says, "that Russian prisons are what they ought 
to be. I do not beHeve they are what they might 
be, and I am sure they are not what those in 
authority would like them to be,; but all this does 
not justify the representation of them to be what 
they are not." 

In a recent letter from the Washington cor- 
respondent of the Philadelphia Record, I find the 
following : 

"There was a very dramatic scene at the meeting of the Literary 
Society last Saturday evening. The members and their guests, including 
many distinguished personages, had gathered in the drawing-room. Pre- 
sently the company saw a strange figure clad in wretched clothes and 
fettered with heavy chains standing in the doorway. For a moment his 
friends did not recognize it as Mr. George Kennan, the vice-president of 
the society, who had promised to read them some letters from Eussian 
State prisoners in Siberia, The costume, and especially the chains, greatly 
heightened the effect of the letters, heartrending as some of them were, 
and touching as all of them were in themselves. The thought that some 
of these simple stories of suffering were written by just such a refined 
and cultivated man as Kennan himself, and others by women even more 
refined and cultivated, was strongly impressed upon every one. 

"'I feel completely unnerved,' said Senator Hawley when Kennan 
had finished, and by so saying expressed the common thought. Mark 
Twain, who had actually been weeping, could not refrain from a more 
extended expression.' Rising to his full height and speaking for once with 
seriousness, he said that were he a Eussian he would be a revolutionist — 
it would be inevitable. He might respect the Czar as a man, but as a 
ruler he would destroy him. He believed that the moral power of the 
civilized world ought to be brought to bear upon Eussia to put a speedy 
stop to such cruelties and outrages in the name of law." 

If an enterprising Russian journalist, with little 
knowledge of the comparative history of civilization, 
with faulty knowledge of the prison system of the 



288 A WINDING JOURNEY 

United States, with no special knowledge of the 
prison systems of various nations, were to appear 
before a choice audience of ladies and gentlemen 
in St. Petersburg, dressed in the garb of Sing-Sing 
prison, with ball and chain attachment, such as is 
sometimes used, and read some pathetic letters from 
ex-convicts, he might unnerve some high dignitary 
of the Russian government, might elicit tears from 
some brilliant writer, might awaken sympathy with 
the victims of a cruel government, and might arouse 
indignation towards the unfeeling barbarism of the 
Great Republic. Judging from the most sober and 
reliable information obtainable, the Russian prison 
system would not compare very unfavorably with 
that of the United States, if the municipal prisons 
and county jails in the various States were included. 
Rev. Dr Lansdell and others have found no such 
evils in Russian prisons as Howard found in the 
prisons of Great Britain a century ago. It has 
long been the policy of Russia to make use of 
her prisoners in Siberia as enforced colonists. 
Prosperous communities have grown up in Siberia, 
around the prisons, many of the leading members 
of which have been convicts. If the prisoners had 
been treated with such severity and inhumanity as 
some have pretended, no soul would have survived 
to tell the tale. The pathetic story of " Elizabeth, 
or the Exiles of Siberia," is not a very good source 
of historical mformation. And statesmen surely 
should not judge a friendly power by the highly- 
colored literature of its criminals. A few years. 



ABOUND THE WOULD. 289 

ago a letter appeared in the London Times^ pur- 
porting to have been written by a prisoner in the 
Troubetzkoy Bastion of the Petropaulovsk Prison, 
in his own blood. It turned out that the letter 
was written in red ink at Geneva, by one who 
had never been in that prison at all. 

Mr. Kennan, in his brilliantly written account 
of the treatment of political prisoners in the fortress 
of Petropaulovsk, confessedly states the case of 
the prisoners themselves. Through him they arraign 
the Russian government. Of course the govern- 
ment will not plead to an indictment presented by 
a grand jury of its own prisoners, drawn up by a 
writer in the Century magazine as prosecuting 
attorney. Mr. Kennan was not permitted to visit 
the prison at all, and consequently reports nothing 
of his own knowledge. His witnesses may reason- 
ably be supposed to be prejudiced. Their incar- 
ceration would naturally warp their judgments. 
Their feelings would be sure to color their state- 
ments of facts, however honest they might intend 
to be. It is by no means certain that they all told 
the truth. It is well known that inmates, and 
those who have been inmates, of prisons, are very 
unreliable in their accounts of the treatment received 
by them. It may be supposed that the framer of 
the indictment would omit contradictory testimony 
and present his case in the strongest way. There 
was no cross-examination of witnesses and there is 
no testimony given on the other side. Mr. Kennan 
pleads the cause of the prisoners with the fervor, 
19 



290 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the eloquence, and the unconscious mental bias of 
an advocate. 

We have on the same subject the testimony 
of the Rev. Dr. Henry Lansdell, who visited 
not only the Troubetzkoy Bastion of the Petropaul- 
ovsk Prison, but also the Courtine of Catherine II., 
the casemates of which are covered with earth, 
and therefore have been erroneously reported to 
be under ground. Dr. Lansdell's detailed report 
of what he saw differs materially from the account 
given by the prisoners through Mr. Kennan. A 
correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette also visited 
the fortress and gives an account of what he saw, 
under date of February 14, 1884, which accords 
with the account of Dr. Lansdell. Both of these 
witnesses are Englishmen, and cannot be supposed 
to have any special liking for the Russian govern- 
ment. At all events they are not ex parte witnesses. 
And they are eye-witnesses. Their testimony should 
have more weight with an impartial jury than that 
of men who have no good opinion of the law, 
having felt the halter draw. 

The correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette 
throws unexpected light on one feature of the 
subject that has troubled and puzzled many. "I 
enquired," he says, "into the history of many of 
the prisoners I there saw, especially of the women. 
It was the same sad story. Few had finished their 
education anywhere ; some had 'been to several 
gymnasia, and had been forced to leave, either 
through insubordination, idleness, or intellectual 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 291 

incapacity. At war with the school authorities, 
often smarting under a sense of injustice real or 
supposed, they leave school at war with whatever 
they have known of law or authority. Thus pre- 
disposed, they fall ready victims to men of far more 
experience than themselves, who, appealing to the 
daring, the enthusiasm, the courage of youth, urge 
them on to deeds they dare not do themselves. 
Most of the young women entangled in the fatal 
net of Nihilism were but inexperienced children 
when they first began. Many young girls sent to 
Switzerland for their education were sedulously 
sought after by the Nihilist refugees there. Appeals 
to their love of country, their enthusiasm, their 
youthful longing to be something — to do — were 
but too successful ; and young girls, at the very 
outset of their careers, find themselves bound by 
oaths, to be broken at the risk of secret and 
sudden death should their courage fail, or should 
they hesitate to obey. Here lies the ruthless and 
real tyranny, and the cowardly plotters, safe, skulking 
In some foreign land, are alone responsible. One 
reads with a feeling of disgust an appeal to humanity 
from such cowardly assassins. The heart throbs 
with pity for their inexperienced and too credulous 
dupes ; but one boils with contempt and loathing 
at the very thought of these vanity-mad, cowardly 
misleaders." 

Nihilism in Russia is precisely the opposite of 
Panslavism. As a doctrine it had its origin in the 
speculations of Alexander Herzen. Its propagan- 



292 A WINDING JOURNEY 

dists were the agitator Michael Bakunin and the 
journaHst Tchernyschevski. Its recruits come from 
the ''fair girl graduates" and callow college students. 
The Nihilists are like the little meteors attracted 
by the earth, that blaze by the friction of the 
atmosphere through which they fall. They bear 
about the same proportion to the mass of Russian 
society as these same meteors bear to the mass 
of the earth. Under different environment they 
are not unlike the Proudhonists of France and the 
Anarchists of Germany. There are men in America 
of the genuine Nihilistic breed, who preach murder 
and arson. Nihilism flourishes just as well in the 
midst of universal suffrage as under absolutism. 
For the fully-developed Nihilist there is no God 
in the universe, no soul in man, no distinction 
between good and evil. The political propagandism 
of Nihilism in Russia is directed towards the over- 
throw of all existing institutions, in order that 
regeneration may somehow spring from the general 
chaos. Its methods are secret, its instrument is 
any weapon of assassination. It aims its blows at 
the Czar for the double reason that he is at the 
head of existing institutions and has inflicted punish- 
ment on its criminals. Nothing else in Russia stands 
so much in the way of rational political progress 
as Nihilism. Its acts are not only moral crimes, 
but senseless political blunders. When it murdered 
Alexander II., even while he was meditating the 
establishment of a constitution for his people, It 
destroyed any chance of political progress In Russia 




ALEXANDER H OF RUSSIA. 



AROUND THE WORLD.' 293 

for an indefinite period. It surrounds the present 
Czar with invisible assassins, and charges him with 
crime for taking measures to secure the safety of 
himself and the public. It incites severe measures 
of repression by its secret murderous work, and 
then excuses its work upon the ground of the very 
measures it begets. Alexander II., with noble 
courage and humanity, freed twenty millions of his 
fellow-beings from slavery. The Nihilists, regardless 
alike of serf and monarch, responded to his 
benevolent deed with dynamite. In America we 
have hunted down and executed assassins of Presi- 
dents, and ought not to be led into any sympathy 
with the murderers of a Russian Emperor. In its 
measures against unseen enemies it is quite pro- 
bable, indeed it is quite certain, that the Russian 
government has sometimes mistaken the innocent 
for the guilty, has sometimes used harsh detective 
methods, but in its struggle with a desperate secret 
organization, endeavoring to subvert all law and 
order, to overthrow institutions reared in toil and 
blood by fifty generations, to break all the holy 
images of the people, and to introduce a godless 
reign of chaos and terror, it should not be too 
severely judged, especially by those of other nations 
who have no means of knowing all the factors of 
the difficult problem it has to solve. In our sore 
need the Russian government was our friend, and 
we should not be its over-zealous enemy now. 

The Russians, as a people, are profoundly 
religious, even superstitious. Over ninety per cent. 



294 A WINDING JOURNEY 

of them are Christians, and of these by far the 
larger number belong to the Greek Church. The 
Russo-Greek Church prohibits the celibacy of the 
clergy, and authorizes the use of the Scriptures in 
the language of the people. The Emperor is the 
head of the church and executes the judgments 
of its synod. Other religions are tolerated, but 
no member of the Greek Church may renounce 
his creed under penalty of perpetual detention in 
a convent. Jewish traders may reside in Poland 
and the south-western provinces, but are not allowed 
to settle in Russia proper. The Russians have 
lavished incredible sums of money on the building 
and embellishment of churches and convents. 

The administration of the Russian govern- 
ment is placed in the hands of four great Councils, ' 
which center in the Czar's private Cabinet, i. 
The Council of the Empire has departments of 
finance, legislation, and civil administration. 2. 
The Directing Senate is the High Court of Justice 
of the Empire, and sits partly at St. Petersburg, 
partly at Moscow. 3. The Holy Synod super- 
intends the religious affairs of the empire. 4. The 
Council of Ministers embraces foreign affairs, war, 
navy, interior, public instruction, public works, etc. 

Our representative government would be no 
better adapted to the Russians than their absolute 
government would be to us. The government of 
every country grows out of the conditions, habits, 
traditions, and political education of the people. 
Russia can be rightly judged only from the stand- 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 295 

point of universal history. It is a mighty empire 
and has a great mission to perform in the world. 
The nation, the people, has grown to be an organic 
whole, of vast dimensions, whose nature cannot 
easily be changed, the current of whose life cannot 
easily be turned into a new channel. It will flow 
on till its destiny is fulfilled. Nihilism, like all 
things evil, will in due time perish. Providence, 
with its eternal and unalterable laws, has Russia, 
as it has all other peoples, under its guidance. 



296 A WINDING JOURNEY 



CHAPTER X. 



NORWAY AND SWEDEN. 



^ WENT from Helsingfors, in Finland, by steam- 
ed ship directly to Stockholm. The approach to 
* that city from the Baltic is in the midst of 
ten thousand rocky islands, clothed with dark woods 
of pine. The ship channel is nearly forty miles 
long. We approached the city during the long 
northern twilight, which added a weird beauty to 
the magnificent scenery. Long vistas of endless 
channels, running in all directions between innu- 
merable islands, make the approach to Stockholm 
from the sea one of the finest, perhaps the finest, 
in the world. 

The city itself, built on nine islands in Lake 
Maleren as it opens into the island-studded Baltic, 
and on the irregular shores, is one of the most 
beautiful in Europe. It has been called the Venice 
of the north. It is very unlike Venice in architec- 
ture, in the entire absence of gondolas, in the 
presence of noisy, stone-paved streets, in coloring, 
in glow of atmosphere, in everything except views 
over wide reaches of water, in which Stockholm 
is superior. The two cities differ, as the North 
and South differ, as the Swedes and the Italians 



AROUND THE WORLD. 297 

differ, as the stir of modern life and the stillness 
of the middle ages differ. 

In the spacious harbor in the very midst of 
Stockholm are numerous steamers, of all sizes, 
that ply to the neighboring islands and shores, 
that sail away to all the ports of the Baltic. There 
are also boats that will carry the traveler on the 
Gota Canal, and the lakes connected by it, to 
inland towns, through picturesque scenes, and to 
the south-western shore of Sweden. At any hour 
one can go somewhere by water and dreamily enjoy 
exquisite views in the softer light of a high 
latitude and in the tempered warmth of the long 
summer day. The sharp blaze of the more vertical 
sun, the short twilight, and the hot malarial air 
of the South, admit of no such luxury and repose 
of travel. The hyperborean regions have their 
compensations in various ways. 

Stockholm was founded by Birgir Jarl in the 
middle of the thirteenth century, when Venice was 
flourishing most. He began to build on three of 
the islands in Lake Maleren, and fortified them 
against his piratical neighbors. From small begin- 
ninnings Stockholm has grown to a city of more 
than two hundred thousand Inhabitants. It is the 
capital of Sweden, where the royal family resides, 
where the legislature meets, where the highest 
courts sit. 

The royal palace, built in the Italian style, in 
the middle of last century, stands on a hill com- 
manding beautiful views of the shore and the 



298 A WINDING JOUENEY 

surrounding city. It possesses a fine library, a 
picture gallery, collections of various kinds, and 
beautiful gardens. Travelers can very easily obtain 
permission to visit it. The reigning King, Oscar II., 
who ascended the throne in 1872, is the occupant 
of the palace and seems to possess the loyal affection 
of the people of his double kingdom of Sweden 
and Norway in a high degree. He is the descendant 
of General Bernadotte, who came to the throne in 
1818 as Charles XIV. The dominant party in 
Sweden elected Bernadotte Crown Prince in order 
to conciliate Napoleon. When he assumed the 
reins of government, however, he took the part of 
the allies against the conqueror and thus secured, 
at the Congress of Vienna, the possession of 
Norway, which was taken away from Denmark on 
account of the adhesion of that kingdom to the 
fortunes of Napoleon. The country prospered under 
his able reign, although the people felt very little 
personal affection for him as an alien king. His 
son Oscar (i 844-1 859), 'his grandson, Charles XV., 
and the present sovereign, have won the confidence 
and esteem of the Swedes and Norwegians, and 
have reigned in peace. 

The Diet, or legislative body of Sweden, meets 
every year at Stockholm and remains in session 
three or four months. It is composed of two 
chambers, both of which are elected by the people. 
Members of the upper branch of the Diet must 
be thirty-five years of age and have an income of 
about $1,000. They are chosen for a term of nine 



AROUND THE WORLD. 299 

years and receive no compensation. Their number 
depends upon the population; at present it is 127. 
The lower branch consists of 194 members elected 
for three years. A smaller income and less age 
are required of them. They receive compensation. 
The election of members of both branches of the 
Diet is by ballot. The Diet exercises a direct 
control over all financial matters, and to it ministers 
and officers of the crown are answerable. The 
King has the power of veto, nominates to all 
appointments, declares war or peace, and makes 
treaties. The administration of law is independent 
of the law-making power, is presided over by a 
chancellor appointed by the King and an attorney- 
general appointed by the Diet. 

No city in Europe has a finer park than the 
Zoological Gardens of Stockholm, on a high penin- 
sula two miles long and a mile wide, overlooking 
the city and affording magnificent views of adjacent 
islands and shores. 

In the many open places, squares and gardens 
of Stockholm, are statues of Sweden's distinguished 
men, some of which are striking, a few of which 
are of artistic excellence. On one of the fine 
stone quays that skirt the main harbor, near the 
royal palace, is the colossal statue of Gustavus III. 
The market-place, adjoining the Knights' Hall, .is 
ornamented with a fine statue of Gustavus Vasa. 
The open space in front of the north-west facade 
of the National Museum is embellished, with the 
masterpiece of the Swedish sculptor Molin, in 



300 A "WINDING JOURNEY 

bronze, representing the "girdle-duelists." I observed 
it well and meditated on the bloody personal com- 
bats of the old Scandinavians, which it commemo- 
rates. The duelists were bound together with their 
belts and fought out their battle with knives, till 
one or both perished. The statue recalled the times 
when wives followed their husbands to banquets 
with winding-sheets, where frequent quarrels ter- 
minated fatally in these knivgange. 

Beyond any city that I have seen, Stockholm 
abounds in public cafes and restaurants. Multitudes 
take their meals in them. As a rule, the food and 
cooking are excellent. The prices are moderate, 
and it is cheaper to live in them than at home. In 
many of them the dining-room is furnished and 
decorated as sumptuously as the banqueting-hall of 
a royal palace. An excellent band of music plays 
during the meal hours, and family groups at the 
tables enjoy themselves every day as on a festive 
occasion. It struck me that living in such a public 
way must weaken attachment to domestic life and 
undermine the virtues that flourish best in the 
seclusion of home. 

Stockholm has many churches and public buildings, 
but few of them are worthy of particular attention 
on account of their architecture. In the Riddarsholm 
Kirke are buried all the Kings of Sweden since 
Charles X. 

The numerous bridges which connect the islands 
with one another and with the shore, some of stone, 
some of wood, are not only picturesque in them- 



AROUND THE WORLD. 301 

selves but also serve to break the monotony of 
the longer streets. Tramways abound, as in all 
other European cities, enabling one to explore all 
parts of the town easily, cheaply, and without fear 
of getting lost. They are of especial use to a 
traveler ignorant of the language, for they will 
always bring him back to the point of starting, 
without the necessity of enquiring the way. 

The public baths in Stockholm, as in other 
Swedish cities, are in one respect peculiar. To 
the bath-room a woman is sent with you, not 
merely to prepare the bath and then retire, but 
to help you undress and dress, and to bathe you. 
These bathing-women are not very young, and 
behave themselves with propriety. They are said 
to be among the most virtuous women of Sweden. 
The custom is known in Japan and among the 
Maoris in New Zealand, but only in Sweden outside 
of heathen peoples. It is true that the sage Ulysses 
was bathed by the queenly hands of Helen when he 
visited Troy in disguise, and the beautiful Polycasta 
bathed Telemachus, but there are grave reasons 
why the Swedish habit should not be extended to 
other Christian countries. Probably all things are 
pure to the pure, but unfortunately the pure do not 
constitute the majority in any part of the world. 

Theatres abound in Stockholm, and there is a 
fine Opera-house. Among other institutions, there 
is a good Observatory, and an excellent College 
of Surgery. In no other city have I found the 
use of the telephone so general. 



302 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Close by Stockholm is the Karlsberg Military 
and Naval Academy, near which is the Ulriksdal 
Military Hospital. The army of Sweden has one 
very peculiar feature. Cantoned militiamen, all 
over the country, are maintained on the landed 
estates at the expepse of the proprietors. The 
number varies on the estates according to their 
size. The militiamen are provided with cottages, 
receive an allotment of land, and are paid fixed 
wages. They serve the proprietors as farm-hands, 
except during four weeks of the year, when they 
are assembled for drill. In time of war they enter 
the service as soldiers. The army of Sweden 
numbers a few more than 200,000 men. 

The guide-books will give special and detailed 
descriptions of many things in Stockholm and its 
suburbs, which can only be mentioned here — the 
royal palace, with its fine apartments, and rich 
collections ; the cathedral, with the tombs and 
memorials of illustrious monarchs ; the Church of 
St. Nicholas, where the Kings of Sweden are 
crowned ; the Church of St. Catharine, which stands 
on the ground called the Blood Bath, where 
Christian 11. put ninety-seven citizens to death; 
the House of the Diet, where the legislative 
assembly meets every year; the Royal Academy of 
Science, founded in i 739, with its precious collections 
of portraits, books, and zoological specimens; the 
Royal Academy of Arts, rich in the productions 
of Swedish genius ; the arsenal, with its numerous 
trophies and standards captured in war; the Tech- 



AEOUND THE WORLD, 303 

nical High School, with its models and extensive 
laboratory ; the National Museum, the finest building 
in Stockholm, with its statues of Norse gods, 
its statues of Sweden's men of genius, and its 
superb collections of antiquities ; the house where 
Swedenborg lived; the tea-garden on the Mose 
Bake, with its magnificent views, where Nordenskjold 
was enthusiastically received, April 1880, when he 
returned from his famous voyage in the Vega; the 
bank, founded in 1668, which was the first to issue 
paper money ; etc. Swedish history is rich in many 
thinofs and more of its monuments are collected in 
Stockholm than elsewhere. 

I went on by rail to Upsala, the ancient capital 
of Sweden. It is a small city of less than 20,000 
inhabitants, situated on both banks of a navigable 
river, which is crossed by five bridges. 

The University of Upsala, founded in 1477, 
is famous. It has fifty professors and as many 
more lecturers and tutors. The number of students 
at present is about 1,700. The students are divided 
into thirteen "nations,' to one of which each student 
on his arrival must attach himself. These nations 
are not unlike the various colleges at Oxford and 
Cambridge. The special influences of the nation 
to which the student attaches himself have quite 
as much effect on his future as the teaching which 
he receives. A large new building for the university 
has been erected since 1877. A special building 
contains the library of 230,000 volumes and 7,000 
manuscripts. In this library is the famous Codex 



304 A WINDING JOUENEY 

Argenteus, Bishop Ulphila's translation of the four 
Gospels into Middle Gothic, made in the latter 
part of the fourth century. To this Codex scholars 
are chiefly indebted for their knowledge of early 
Gothic. The manuscript consists of i88 leaves of 
parchment in gold and silver letters. The university 
has a botanical garden, with a statue of Linnaeus, 
who lived and taught in Upsala. It is also pro- 
vided with an observatory and collections of various 
kinds. 

Upsala is the seat of an archbishop, who is the 
primate of the established Lutheran Church in 
Sweden. Under him are eleven bishops, whose 
dioceses contain at least 2,500 parishes and 3,500 
pastors. The census of 1870 showed that there 
were in Sweden less than 7,000 non-Lutherans, of 
whom about 2,000 were Baptists and the same 
number of Jews. Upsala, which was the center of 
the heathen religion, fought long and fiercely against 
the introduction of Christianity. 

The cathedral is a huge structure, considerably 
disfigured by "restorations," noted for monuments 
of kings and illustrious families. The chief monu- 
ments are those of Gustavus Adolphus and of 
the renowned scientist Linnaeus. In this cathedral 
the Kings of Sweden were formerly crowned. 

A little more than three miles from the modern 
city is Gamla Upsala, the Old Upsala, with its 
ancient church incorporating a temple of the Asar, 
a mythological race of giants. It is also noted for 
its tumuli of the Scandinavian gods, Thor, Odin, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 305 

and Freyr, each more than 200 feet in diameter 
and nearly sixty feet high. Near these tumuH is 
the httle hill from which the Swedish Kings down 
to Gustavus Vasa used to address their subjects. 

Not far from Upsala are the famous mines of 
Dannemora, worked since the thirteenth century, 
where the best of Swedish iron is produced. 

From Upsala I went to Storlien, nearly 500 
miles further north. At first, one passes through 
the mining ' region of Sweden. Iron abounds. 
Silver, lead and copper are also mined with profit. 
The country is tolerably fertile till the mountains are 
reached at Ostersund, where lakes are numerous, with 
fine scenery. Before Storlien is reached perpetual 
snow is seen on the summits of the mountain range 
dividing Sweden from Norway. It is a desolate 
region, abounding in rocks and waterfalls. For 
many miles the railway is protected from the drifting 
snow of winter by high barriers of timber. Storlien 
is the last town in Sweden. 

From there I went to Throndhjem (Drontheim) 
on the coast of Norway. The railroad descends 
through one of the most beautiful mountain valleys 
in Europe. Here and there the eye catches glimpses 
of the distant sea, softly reflecting the slanting 
sunlight of the north. As we descend, the green 
valley looks doubly sweet in contrast with the cold 
gray heights, over which strange winds are driving 
spectral clouds. 

A peculiar custom prevails in serving meals at 
railway stations in Sweden and Norway. There 



306 A WINDING JOUENEY 

are no waiters. The food, in great abundance and 
variety, is placed in large dishes on a table in the 
center of the dining-room. On the table are also 
knives, forks, spoons and plates. Each one helps 
himself to what he fancies and goes to a small 
table at the side of the room to eat it. He refills 
his plate as often as he likes and eats as much as 
he desires. A woman usually sits at a desk near 
the door and receives pay from guests as they go 
out. The price of a meal varies from one crown 
(twenty-five cents) to two crowns (fifty cents). The 
usual price is a crown and a half. One likes the 
custom when used to it. No time is lost in waiting 
to be served ; the kind of food preferred can be 
selected at once ; the disagreeable presence of a 
clumsy, neglectful, perhaps uncivil or untidy waiter 
is dispensed with. 

From Throndhjem I started the next day after 
my arrival on a trip of eight days to North Cape 
and back. As I shall devote the next chapter to 
a special account of that trip I make no further 
allusion to it here. After my return, I spent 
nearly a week at Trondhjem, and will continue my 
narrative by giving a brief description of it. 

Throndhjem was the ancient capital of Norway, 
as Upsala was of Sweden. It contains nearly 
25,000 inhabitants, and is the center of a large 
shipping trade to the upper coast of Norway and 
a large inland trade to northern Sweden. Although 
Throndhjem is in the latitude of southern Iceland 
the climate is never severe in winter. It is always 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 307 

cool in summer. The average temperature is about 
the same as in the south of England. The town 
is beautifully situated on the outlet of the River 
Nid and the shore of a fiord of the same name 
running far inland. Many of the citizens are 
wealthy and have fine villas along the banks of 
the river and the fiord, and in nooks of the 
neighboring hills. Very remarkable are the green 
lawns and flower gardens in so high a latitude. 

The cathedral in Throndhjem is the finest in 
all Scandinavia. It is now undergoing restoration 
under properly skilled supervision, partly at the 
expense of the government. It was erected over 
the buried remains of St. Olaf, which attracted 
many pilgrims during the Middle Ages and laid 
the foundation of the city's prosperity. Trondhjem 
formerly bore the name of Nidaros, "mouth of 
the River Nid." 

When I was there an exhibition of fishing 
industries was going on, which was very interesting. 
Boats of every kind used in fishing, all kinds of 
apparatus for catching fish, specimens of fish pre- 
served in every style, and articles of utility or 
ornament made from the bones and skins of hsh, 
were on exhibition. Great volumes of statistics 
pertaining to the fishing industries and large charts 
showing the relative importance of the different 
fisheries, made at the expense of the Norwegian 
government, were placed there for the inspection 
of visitors. The rivers and lakes of Norway abound 
in fish, as well as the fiords and the sea shores of 



308 A WINDING JOUENEY 

the main land and the islands. Of the greatest 
importance are the cod, herring and salmon fisheries, 
which, at certain seasons of the year, give employ- 
ment to 50,000 men. Large quantities of dried 
and salted fish are exported to the catholic countries 
of southern Europe. Pickled herring are sent to 
Germany. The Norwegian commerce in fish amounts 
to at least 50,000,000 crowns ($12,500,000) every 
year, to say nothing of the vast consumption by 
2,000,000 of people at home. Fish oils, especially 
cod-liver oil, canned lobster, and fish-guano are 
also important articles of exportation. The wood 
and timber trade alone exceeds in value the fish 
trade. In the proper season. Englishmen, with an 
occasional American, may be found all over Norway 
fishing for salmon. The fish on the tables of hotels 
and steamboats is always fresh and delicious. 

The journey by rail from Trondhjem to Chris- 
tiana, mostly through a mountainous country, is 
long and tiresome. At both ends of the route 
there is some fertile country, with well cultivated 
farms, and picturesque valleys, but all of the middle 
part of the course presents grand scenes of desola- 
tion. On the slopes of the mountains, dark forests 
abound. It is one of the great timber regions 
of Norway. One copper mine of national import- 
ance is passed on the road. The track, for some 
distance, reaches a height of over two thousand 
feet. There the winters are of great length and 
of Siberian severity. To the westward of the 
railroad the mountains reach an altitude of more 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 309 

than a mile. In the region towards Bergen, through 
which the Jostedal runs, there is a vast field of 
glacier-ice, covering with its ramifications more than 
500 square miles. It is the largest in Europe. The 
road is carried along rivers, roaring in swift torrents 
through deep, narrow, rocky ravines, which are 
frequently crossed by substantial bridges, with great 
engineering skill. 

Christiana, the capital of Norway, is a beautiful 
city, situated on hilly ground at the end of a vast 
fiord, of the same name, penetrating far inland 
from the sea. The number of inhabitants is not 
far from 130,000. The view from the heights above 
the city, over Christiana Fiord, with its picturesque 
shores and islands, is pleasing but not especially 
grand. 

The university, founded in 181 1, by Frederick VI., 
contains museums, cabinets and collections of various 
kinds, suitable for scientific education, and has a 
fine library of 250,000 volumes. There are more 
than 1,000 students. Fifty-two professors, divided 
into the usual faculties for complete university 
instruction, give their lectures free. The university, 
in fact, is the crown of a complete system of 
public education in Norway. All children between 
seven and fourteen in towns, between eight and 
fourteen in the country, must be sent to school. 
In regions where the inhabitants are much scattered, 
the schoolmaster is sent from house to house, 
where he must be entertained while teaching the 
children. The teacher is sensibly regarded as 



310 A WINDING JOURNEY 

better able to travel long distances than the little 
ones. The ability to read and write is almost 
universal in Norway. Education is closely allied 
with the Lutheran Church, to which all public 
officers must belong. According to the census of 
1870 there were only about 5,000 dissenters in the 
whole country. 

The assembly-hall of the Norwegian Parliament 
is a fine building containing two chambers, the 
Storthings-Sal, and the Lagthings-Sal, a library, 
the usual committee-rooms, etc. The parliament 
is divided into two bodies, the Lagthing and the 
Odelsthing. The Lagthing frames all legislative 
and financial measures. The Odelsthing has the 
power of rejecting such measures, and also has the 
supervision of ministers, judges, and other officers 
of State. Taxes, when voted by the Storthing, 
are collected by officers of the King of Sweden, 
who is also King of Norway. Laws passed by the 
Storthing must be ratified by the King, but if they 
are passed three times they are valid without his 
sanction. The members of the Storthing are not 
voted for directly by the people. Deputies are 
elected by almost universal suffrage, who choose 
the members of the legislative body, or Storthing. 
The legislative body meets every year, during the 
months of February and March. Norway has 
abolished titles of nobility, has its own army, navy, 
finances, legislative and judicial machinery, is con- 
nected with Sweden only in matters of diplomacy 
and external policy, and may be regarded as an 



AROUND THE WOELD. 311 

independent democracy. The people are very 
jealous of their liberty and are not to be trifled 
with. The army consists of 40,000 men and 760 
officers, and may be greatly enlarged in case of 
need. The navy numbers eighty-eight vessels, 
thirty-seven steamers, and is manned by 1,400 sailors, 
but as many as 26,000 are liable to be called into 
the service. 

Nothing in Christiana interested me so much 
as a Viking ship, exhumed at Gokstad, near Sande- 
fiord, in 1880. It was in a shed, behind the fine 
university building. It is sixty-seven feet long 
and sixteen feet wide, and belongs to the ninth 
century, certainly to the period between a. d. 800 
and 1050. It was customary to bury the heathen 
Vikings with their ships. A few remains of such 
ships had been found by archaeologists, from time 
to time, but this was the first one found entire, or 
so nearly entire as to form a complete specimen 
of the marine architecture of the times. The ship, 
containing the remains of its master, was buried in 
a bed of blue clay which preserved it. 

The ship is of oak, clinker-built. The planks, 
about an inch thick, were fastened to the frame 
with tough roots of trees, and to one another with 
iron nails. Three-stranded cords of cows'-hair were 
used for caulking. The ship was propelled with 
sails as well as oars. Fragments of the mast are 
preserved. There are sixteen holes on each side, 
thirty-two in all, through which the oars were shoved 
from the inside. A notch is cut in the side of 



312 A WINDING JOURNEY 

each hole for the blade of the oar. There are 
slides to cover the holes, evidently for the purpose 
of keeping out the sea. Several of the oars have 
been preserved, which are over twenty feet long. 
The ship had no deck. Boards were placed across 
the interior, resting on notches cut in the frame, 
under which things could be stowed away. Shelter 
was afforded by a tent-cloth stretched over a spar 
resting on crutches made by two poles erected 
slanting, so as to cross each other near the top. 
Pieces of the tent-cloth, of wool, originally white, 
with red stripes sewed on, and also pieces of the 
ropes, made of bast, were found with the ship. 
The rudder was hung by a rope on the right-hand 
side, forward of the stern-post. This method of 
hanging the rudder was continued in all Teutonic 
countries, down to the fourteenth century, and still 
survives in the Teutonic word, "starboard," steering- 
board, to designate the right-hand side ©f a ship. 
Fragments of three small boats, also oak, were 
found with the ship. The iron stock of the anchor, 
almost eaten up with rust; a gang-plank, more 
than twenty feet long and a foot and a half wide ; 
remnants of sleeping-berths ; fragments of a wooden 
chair, finely carved ; a massive copper kettle, and 
a small kettle, with nicely wrought chains by which 
they were hung ; tubs and buckets ; wooden drinking 
cups, with handles, finely carved ; and wooden 
plates, were rescued with the ship from the grave 
where they had been buried a thousand years. As 
there was no provision made on the ship for fire, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 313 

it is evident that the cooking utensils were designed 
for use on landing. 

In just such ships as this the old Norsemen 
sailed on their marauding excursions to the coasts 
of all neighboring countries. It is probable that 
some of their war-ships were larger. With two square 
pieces of canvas (the Viking ships had two square 
sails) and tough oars of oak they sailed over the 
stormy northern ocean to Iceland, to Greenland, 
perhaps to the North American continent many 
centuries before it was discovered by Columbus. 
Ships just like it may be seen to-day in the fiords 
and on the coasts of Norway. 

The Sarpsfos Falls are the only thing of special 
interest to' be seen on the journey by rail from 
Christiana to Gottenborg. The region traversed is 
the most fertile in Norway, if indeed fertility can 
be predicated of any part of a country less than 
three per cent, of which is not cultivable at all. 
Some of the uplands, however, produce pasture 
for cattle, where no grain will grow. At Fredrikstat 
the Glommen, the largest river of Norway, comes 
down from a richly wooded region, bringing treasures 
of lumber. Farther on, the fine waterfall of Sarpsfos 
is in full view for a short distance. A great volume 
of water is .poured over a ledge of rock 140 feet 
wide and seventy-four feet high. Some time before 
reaching Gottenborg we crossed the frontier between 
Norway and Sweden. I had journeyed the whole 
length, 1,200 miles, of the wild, barren country, 
where sea and land are strangely intermixed, and 



314 A WINDING JOURNEY 

left It with a sense of thankfulness for what I had 
seen and learned, 

Gottenborg Is a commercial city, of about 100,000 
Inhabitants, the largest in Sweden except Stockholm. 
It is situated on the River Gota. a few miles from 
the Cattagat, and has a deep, capacious harbor. 
It is Sweden's chief point of contact, by means of 
ships, with all the outer world. The harbor is well 
protected by three forts. At Gottenborg begins 
the Gota Canal, which runs to Stockholm. Boats, 
propelled by steam, convey passengers with great 
comfort through an Interesting region. The city 
is well built and contains the usual number of urban 
institutions in a prosperous, intelligent, public-spirited 
community. The licensing system of Gottenborg 
is peculiar, the working of which I took some pains 
to ascertain. The municipal government owns all 
the drinking-places, which it runs by means of 
salaried agents, of course keeping the profits. The 
system seems to work well, the income from it 
being large. Order is strictly enforced, and, It is 
claimed, drunkenness restricted. The difficulty of 
carrying out the system in some other countries 
would be in finding honest agents. The foreign 
commerce of Gottenborg is large. It is the chief 
outlet for the surplus products of more than four 
millions of industrious people. 

I went on to Karlskrona by boat. It is a town 
of 20,000 inhabitants, and is the head naval station 
of Sweden. It has a famous dockyard, to see 
which permission has to be obtained from the 



AROUND THE WOELD. 315 

minister of war. The Swedish fleet consists of 
140 vessels — 56 steamers — carrying 360 guns and 
7,800 men. In time of war, the merchant fleet of 
Sweden, more than 3,000 vessels, with a reserve 
of 25,000 men, can be called into service. 

It is a sea journey of only three or four hours 
from Karlskrona to Malmo, on the Sound, opposite 
Copenhagan, which is sixteen miles away and in 
sight. Malmo is the third city of Sweden, has 
fine docks, and is of considerable commercial import- 
ance. Situated on the border, it suffered much in 
the bitter wars between Sweden and Denmark. 
Four or five centuries ago the herring-fishery of 
that coast brought much trade to Malmo, and it 
flourished above other towns in the kingdom. In 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the 
herring-fishery failed, it dwindled down to a popu- 
lation of 2,000. It now contains more than 40,000. 
In the Malmohus, a fortress at the south-west end 
of the city, Bothwell, Mary Stuart's third husband, 
was imprisoned from 1573 to 1578. The dungeon 
in which he was incarcerated is now walled up. 

A Swedish gentleman of intelligence and con- 
nected with the government, in whose company I 
traveled from Gottenborg to Malmo, gave me much 
interesting information about the school system of 
the country. Public instruction is compulsory, and 
the government pays all the expenses. In the 
country districts there are about 2,500 regular or 
fixed (^fastd) schools, and nearly 1,500 ambulatory 
(^flyttandd) schools, similar to the itinerary schools 



316 A WINDING JOURNEY 

of Norway, already described. In addition to these, 
there are about 3,500 infant schools. The schools 
are attended by 800,000 pupils. The government 
also supports gymnasia, or higher schools, in towns. 
The educational system culminates in the universities 
of Upsala and Lund. Technical schools in Sweden 
receive especial attention, and ought to be studied 
by all who are interested in this form of education. 

It is worthy of note, and many colleges in 
America might profit by the fact, that the univer- 
sities of Sweden, being located in smaller towns, 
do not undertake to educate students for the medical 
profession. The Karolingska Institute of Stockholm 
is the medical school of the country. In the largest 
city of the kingdom are the best facilities for clinical 
instruction, which is absolutely necessary for proper 
medical education. Weak and rival medical schools, 
in small towns, without the clinical advantages 
afforded by the hospitals of large cities, are not 
allowed to exist and turn out half-educated doctors, 
to learn their profession after graduation at the 
expense of unfortunate patients. 

About the Scandinavian people in general I 
shall have more to say in a subsequent chapter on 
Denmark. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 317 



CHAPTER XI. 

CRUISE TO THE NORTH CAPE AND BACK. THE 

MIDNIGHT SUN. 

EXCURSION boats leave Throndhjem for the North 
Cape twice a week, Wednesdays and Sundays, 
at midnight, from the 20th of June to the 
20th of August. They are well-appointed boats, 
seaworthy, reasonably fast, comfortable, but generally 
crowded. The service is excellent ; at any hour of 
day or night a waiter will promptly respond to the 
touch of an electric bell. The table is equal to 
that of a good hotel. The officers and pilots are 
trained to their duties. This is a matter of great 
importance where the navigation is very intricate 
and in some places dangerous. Most of the officers 
speak English and German. 

I was rather astonished to find on the boat 
twenty-six Americans. Among them were half-a- 
dozen American ladies, traveling without the attend- 
ance of gentlemen. Their conduct and bearing 
were such as to beget respect, even to command 
protection in case of necessity. There was about 
the same number of Germans as of Americans. 
Some of the Germans were high-bred and agreeable 
people. A dozen of the Germans were a "con- 



318 A WINDING JOURNEY 

ducted " party, with a Frenchman, strange to say, 
as conductor. He was an old French pedagogue, 
with good linguistic attainments, and made himself 
very useful, but his party treated him barbarously. 
He bore very patiently the insolence of Germans 
who had a touch of the furor Teutonicus in the 
wrong place. The Americans were very quiet, 
intelligent and agreeable travelers. An old New 
York merchant and his wife had a German female 
courier, who was the most attentive, most efficient 
courier that I ever saw. There was only one 
Englishman on board, a very vivacious and pleasant 
Londoner. The Americans all called him their 
British cousin. A handsome young Italian count, 
traveling with a quiet friend, was the observed of 
all observers and the enthusiastic leader of all 
excursions on shore. 

The boat sailed on Wednesday, at midnight. 
As there was little to be seen during the first stage 
of the journey, on Throndhjem Fiord, everybody 
went to bed and slept till late the next morning. 
It is desirable to seize all opportunities of sleep on 
a cruise of eight days, where the light lasts during 
the whole night and where there are so many 
novel objects that sleep is apt to be neglected. 
Many travelers to the North Cape bring on nervous 
exhaustion by long wakefulness. In fact one knows 
not when to sleep where the day is perpetual. 

The next day (Thursday) the steamer threads 
its way among innumerable islands, and makes its 
first landing in the afternoon, at Torghaetta, or 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 319 

the "Pierced Hat." The old Norse legend runs 
that a giantess was pursued by the amorous 
Hestmand, who drew his mighty bow and shot 
after her an arrow which pierced her hat. He was 
only little more than a hundred miles away. Hat 
and giantess were petrified into a mountain of 
rock. The hat is only 800 feet high. The hole 
through which the arrow went is over sixty feet in 
diameter at one end and over 200 at the other 
end. The sea can be seen through it as the ship 
sails along the island. We all climbed up to it 
over a rough path a mile long. On our return ' a 
violent thunder-shower drenched us to the skin. 
The view of the sea, gemmed with innumerable 
islands, through this huge telescopic tunnel, was 
worth the climb and the wetting. 

We went on to Bodo, which we reached the 
next (Friday) morning. We landed there and 
ascended a hill to the north of the town, from which 
a magnificent view of the Lofoden Islands was 
obtained. It is very difficult to describe the coast 
of Norway, with its numberless islands, fiords, 
intricate straits, rocks, mountains, and towns, so as 
to give any definite idea of it to one who has not 
been there. I had with me some letters written 
by a vivacious Englishman to a provincial journal, 
which come nearer describing the indescribable than 
anything else I have seen in print about Norway. 
From these letters I shall make some extracts. The 
style of the unknown Englishman is very redundant. 
To suit my own purpose and express my own 



320 A WINDING JOIIBNEY 

experience, I have made such omissions, additions, 
and transpositions of the extracted matter as will 
relieve the author, whoever he may be, of all 
responsibility. He would not know his own writing 
with my sins of omission and commission. How- 
ever, I give full credit for the borrowed matter by 
the use of. quotation marks. 

"Norway is a maze — a marvelous labyrinth of 
low islets, of lofty islands, and of weirdly wild 
ravines, whose precipices mirror their seamed and 
wrinkled and ribbed heights in the bluest of sea 
brine. Its foremost videttes are silent volcanoes, 
heaved up, like the Lofoden Isles, a hundred miles 
or so seaward of the mainland. Its islets of stone — 
gray and deeply furrowed with age, or plumed with 
birch and pine — are so bewilderingly numerous that 
the water-ways between them are but as cords in 
a shining network. These islets lie in zones between 
the stormy Atlantic and the tranquil inner straits. 
He who threads the winding lanes of water which 
separate them sees on every side mimic docks and 
quiet havens fashioned by Nature's own hand and 
ramparted by her eternal masonry. Here the hardy 
fisher folks have, like the sea-birds, built their nests 
on ledges of rock — nests, white, or red, or russet- 
brown — and here their fishing-skiffs lie anchored in 
water placid as a mill-pond. Were ever sea and 
land so inextricably mixed up? Seaward the broad 
Atlantic chafes in mumbling menace against outer 
defenses of imposing massiveness and bulk. These 
outer works rise sheer out of the main, terrace 



AEOUKD THE WORLD. 321 

over terrace, crag above crag. Some of these 
islands of the outer deep are of commanding 
presence. Such is their elevation, and such the 
majesty of their massiveness — they are in appear- 
ance so near, and yet so far — that you may steam 
for a day on a reach of sea dominated and, so to 
speak, pervaded by the same stupendous piles of 
rock. You espy their frowning heights ahead at 
breakfast time, and you see them abaft at night in 
all their abruptness and jaggedness, reddening in 
the level light of a midnight sun. These lone 
Titans are met far out in the Arctic Sea, where 
they — 

Like giants stand, to sentinel enchanted land. 

Far eastward of these monarchs of the main He 
those lesser islands — a labyrinthine archipelago of 
rocks and sea — which form almost one continuous 
breakwater over a stretch of a thousand miles. 
Protected by this stupendous breakwater, the fishers, 
in their fragile, open craft, ply, in smooth water, 
their healthy and useful trade; and women and 
little girls row to church or to market, in light 
shells of boats, on water clearer than glass, and 
unruffled as a mill-pond. The continuous inner 
strait, next the mainland, and the fiords which open 
into it are the cheap highways whereon the comrherce 
of Norway travels. 

"On the passage to the North Cape, where the 
sun makes rosy the rocks at the deepest noon of 
night, there is no monotony. Now you turn to 



322 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the right, and passing through an opening in the 
mountains you explore a fiord, the shaggy walls of 
which are hung with waterfalls. Some of these 
falls resemble spun glass, others descend in wavy 
festoons, gauzy or lace-like, while, ever and anon, 
you sail close under a snow-capped precipice, where 
clouds of white smoke and volumes of water of 
dazzling whiteness, and a sound as of distant 
thunder, beckon you onwards to behold some 
renowned show *foss' of the country. You proceed 
up the fiord until the mountains close in upon you, 
and the bottom, although fathoms deep, shines up 
beneath the keel ; and then you turn the ship while 
there is still room to turn her, and resume, as in 
a floating hotel, your delightful journey to 'the 
Land of the Midnight Sun,' marveling as you do 
so at the way in which bay lies within bay, and 
iiord within fiord, and marveling still more to find 
in some of the most unlikely spots on this earth 
clusters of trim houses and emerald slopes, hanging 
woods and gay little inns — inns prim as paint and 
fretwork can make them. At nearly every bend 
of the fiord the Norseman builds in green nooks, 
that are backed by confused piles of boulders, 
grimly suggestive of the fearful height from which 
they have fallen. He fearlessly carries his roads 
along dells so narrow that a perpetual twilight 
invests them with a gloomy grandeur. To do this 
he blasts his way through fallen rocks, larger in 
places than his own house. He rears sheep and 
the pluckiest of ponies where one could scarcely 



AROUND THE WORLD. 323 

expect to find grazing for a goat; he cuts fodder 
for his beasts on mountain ledges and shelves from 
which it has to be lowered by sliding it down a 
tightened cord of wire. A practical man is he. 
He causes the gleeful streams to grind for him, 
and to saw for him, singing at their useful toil like 
workers glad to do him a good turn. Wherever 
the feathery pine and the silver birch can find 
foothold and growth, he too can cling and live." 

In the midst of such scenery as that described 
above, we sailed on from Bodo towards Tromso. 
The weather was clear and we had, on the journey, 
a magnificent view of the Lofoden and Vesteraalen 
groups of islands. On our return voyage, some 
days later, we sailed through the Raftsund, separating 
the two groups, and further description of them 
will be deferred till then. We arrived at Tromso 
Saturday morning. The town is picturesquely 
situated on an island of the same name. It has 
about 6,000 inhabitants, and is the center of con- 
siderable local trade. 

The steamer stopped long enough for us to 
make a visit to an encampment of Laps in the 
Tromsdal, about three and a half miles away. The 
path leading to it was, by turns, rough and marshy. 
All who wished to ride could secure docile and 
sure-footed ponies. The habitations of the Laps 
were dome-shaped, built of stone, turf and birch- 
bark, with an opening at the top for the exit of 
smoke. The Laps are short, rather stout, greasy, 
dirty, idle and mal-odorous. They recline on the 



324 A WINDING JOURNEY 

ground around a fire in the center of their huts, 
over which ahvays hangs a pot or kettle. They 
own a herd of four or five thousand reindeer, a 
few of which were kept in an enclosure for milking. 
The milk is rich and from it is made cheese which 
is preserved for winter food. The reindeer were 
formerly wild and have been tamed by these curious 
people. 

The tourists bought sundry articles from the 
Laps, as mementos of their visit. The skins sold 
by them smelt so abominably that no one wished 
to purchase them. The great branching horns of 
the reindeer were attractive, but too cumbersome 
to carry away. Some of the ladies bought bells 
used on the reindeer and noisily displayed them 
as trophies of their excursion. An old New York 
merchant carefully examined one of the bells and 
discovered on it the mark of the Shefiheld manu- 
facturer; whereupon the noisy souvenirs of the Lap 
encampment speedily disappeared. 

In the afternoon we got away and sailed out 
into a wide expanse of water, opening to the 
north, and waited for a sight of the midnight sun. 
Again I shall let my unknown English friend 
undertake to describe the indescribable, first severely 
pruning his exuberant effusion. 

" It is night now, but as the night deepens the 
light increases and reddens, and the broad sea 
scintillates in the flood of sunlieht beneath which 
it lies. Not that the sky is entirely unclouded. 
It is streaked, and belted with zones of slatey 



AHOUND THE WOULD. 325 

violet, fringed with opal, and between these He 
inlets of a pale golden green, veined with amber, 
saffron, and rose. Now the sun hides behind a 
bank of violet cloud, and the opal fringe emits 
a dazzling effulgence. This fringe ceases to be 
opaline, for it glows like the electric light, with 
a splendor which is reflected upon the edges of 
the clouds beneath. At some distance from the 
sun there is a cloudless sky, the colder hue of 
which is electric blue. Now the lower edge of 
the sun creeps down from its place of hiding, until 
the undimmed orb hangs fully revealed — embayed, 
as it were, on a cloud-locked lake of sky, the tint 
of which is neither saffron nor emerald, but a 
delicate blend of the two — a magically-beautiful 
flush of palest golden-green. This truly is 'the 
'witching hour of night,' and all eyes are focussed 
on this revelation of the mystic beauties of the 
arctic heavens during a night in which no trace of 
'night' appears. There is no streak of color in 
the sky, and no single cloud-shape there, which is 
not reproduced as in a glass in the depths of the 
sea. Some of the tints are distinctly metallic, 
and these are reflected below with the brilliance of 
burnished steel. Here and there little fleecy clouds 
drift, like Argosies of pearl through the upper 
ether, and may be seen in duplicate sailing through 
the translucent deep. . The tourists speak not ; 
there is a hush of delighted absorption throughout 
the ship while their eyes are drinking in the 
enthralling scene — strange scene of a night beautified 



326 A WINDING JOURNEY 

by the unveiled majesty of the great orb of day. 
It is near midnight now, yet the sun sinks no 
lower, but remains in silent state far above the 
waters. You can look straight at the sun, for its 
whole disk is glassy, and would be glacial in its 
glow were it not that its hue is golden and its light 
watery. Right away from the horizon to the ship 
there is a broad pathway of dimpling light, and 
while we stand gazing at it a Viking ship slowly 
glides across it, looking for the moment as if 
embroidered on cloth of golden tissue. There is 
hardly a ripple on the water, but just that faint 
pulsation as if the sea. were asleep and gently 
breathing, and just that rapt aspect as if it were 
dreaming of heaven, and held within its breast 
the heaven of which it dreamed. 

"The tints of the midnight sky have an aesthetic 
charm. The windows of the arctic heaven resemble 
the painted windows of old cathedrals in the glassi- 
ness of their liquid light ; but there the resemblance 
ends. The hues are half tones of color, coldly 
clear, yet, in a certain spirituality of effect, splendid, 
electric blue, pearl with the delicate fire-flush of 
the opal, heliotrope with a faint blush of slatey 
violet, and between the long, floating Islands of 
cloud there is a celestial sea of translucent grold 
tinged with green glorified, in the midst of which 
the arctic sun swims, fringing each belted island- 
group of clouds with Indescribably dazzling white 
light. There are even cloud-castles of peacock- 
blue in mid-air, and when the sunlight streams, 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 327 

almost at a level, across the sea, the gnarled and 
grisled walls of the mountains that shoot up sheer 
out of the water are no longer grisly, but are from 
sea-base to summit embossed work in terra cotta. 
In Switzerland I have seen whole Alpine ranges 
put off their ermine to salute the setting sun in 
vestments of rose-colored fire ; I have beheld the 
entire sky above Geneva's Lake draped in violet 
and cardinal red, with only bars of azure between, 
and the lake itself dyed as deeply with the two 
imperial dyes ; but this arctic night, with its opal 
and pearl, its metallic gleams, its fairy-like blendings 
of pale gold with a paler emerald, and its watery- 
luster, is unique. A midnight wherein the sea is 
ethereal as the air, and, like the air, streaming with 
strange splendors, suggestive of 'Jerusalem the 
Golden,' a midnight in which the very Viking ships 
as they silently steal athwart a glittering pathway 
of sunlight seem like specter ships gliding in a 
radiance at once beautiful and weird, is never to 
be forgotten. It lives as a revelation — an exchange 
of the material for the spiritual — a glimpse within 
the golden gates : * And I beheld a new heaven 
and a new earth.'" » 

Thus at midnight we saw Aurora, the benign 
Eos, the beautiful daughter of Hyperion, sleeping 
on her couch of cloud, bathed in the holy effulgence 
of Helios, surrounded by her constellations of 
celestial children, her robe of rosy-yellow hanging 
upon the azure wall, a. star blazing on her forehead, 
the divine steeds not yet yoked to her chariot, 



328 A WINDING JOURNEY 

forgetting to drop the curtain of night with her 
'rosy fingers,' sweetly dreaming of mortal youths, 
the torch of day resting near her right hand limp 
in slumber, unconsciously exposing her charms to 
daring wanderers beyond the realm of day and 
night, the light coming to gods and men without 
her announcement. No picture of a midnight sun 
on an island-studded arctic sea can be overdrawn. 
Speech, with imagery drawn from every source, 
falls far short of the reality. 

We steamed away, athwart the long shadows 
cast by mountains, to Hammerfest, "the northern- 
most town in the world," which we reached Sunday 
morning. In the spacious harbor I noticed among 
the shipping sixty-one Russian vessels, most of 
them from the White Sea, not far off, bringing 
grain and loading with fish-products and Lap 
goods. A Russian revenue cutter was also there, 
looking out for contraband trade. The port of 
Hammerfest is generally open all winter, notwith- 
standing the high latitude, owing to the inflow of 
the warm water of the gulf stream. The town 
contains over 2,000 inhabitants, looks trim with 
its neat white houses, but has an odor of cod-liver 
oil. We wandered about the little city and on the 
naked neighboring heights, three hours or more, 
and then sailed for Svaerholtkluber, or " Bird 
Mountain," which we reached in the afternoon. 

The Bird Mountain is an almost perpendicular 
promontory of clay slate, 1,000 feet high. It is 
the nesting-place of innumerable birds, mostly gulls. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 329 

Caves, nooks, shelves of the rock are occupied by 
them. The scream of the ship's steam-whistle and 
the firing of two or three little cannon disturb 
them and millions of them fill the air with their 
flight. The multitudinous roar of their wings is 
like the thunder of a distant waterfall. As we 
draw nearer, we observe ladders fastened to the 
steep rocks, running up to giddy heights. The 
ladders are for the purpose of gathering the eggs 
of the birds, which are a considerable article of 
commerce. The Bird Mountain has an enterprising 
Norwegian proprietor who lives at the head of a 
small bay near by. He not only gathers and sells 
the eggs, but makes fodder of the birds themselves 
for his cattle. He cures the birds by burying 
them in the earth, as farmers cure clover in a silo. 
We stopped at his place and took on milk. I 
fancied that the milk tasted of dead birds. 

We then went on to the North Cape, where 
we arrived an hour and a half before midnight. 
As Longfellow sings — 

"And then uprose before me, 
Upon the water's edge, 
The huge and haggard shape 
Of that unknown North Cape, 
Whose form is like a wedge." 

The cape is a promontory of dark-grey slate r^it^k', 
rising abruptly about i,ooo feet from the sea, deeply 
fissured, on the most northern island of the long 
group lying off the coast of Norway. It is not 
quite so far north as a point of the main land 



330 A WINDING JOURNEY 

farther east. Beyond it lies the great Arctic Ocean, 
with its terrible mysteries. We are far east, nearly 
in the latitude of St. Petersburg and Constantinople. 
The North Pole is less than twelve hundred miles 
away, and we could sail to it in three or four days, 
if the sea were smooth and unobstructed, 

Most of the passengers climbed to the top of 
the promontory, but it was covered with "scud," 
or mist-clouds, blown from the cold Arctic Ocean, 
and they saw nothing. A few of us who remained 
on the ship saw the sun for a short time at midnight, 
blazing out, full-orbed, below the mist-clouds, which 
it illumined with awful splendor. Carlyle makes 
Herr Teufelsdrockh describe the scene with tolerable 
accuracy : '' Silence as of death ; for midnight, 
even in the arctic latitudes, has its character ; nothing 
but the granite cliffs ruddy-tinged, the peaceable 
gurgle of that slow-heaving polar ocean, over which 
in the utmost north the great sun hangs low and 
lazy, as if he too were slumbering. Yet is his 
cloud-couch wrought of crimson and cloth-of-gold ; 
yet does his light stream over the mirror of waters, 
like a tremulous fire-pillar, shooting downwards to 
the abyss, and hide itself under my feet. In such 
moments solitude also is invaluable ; for who would 
speak, or be looked on, when behind him lies all 
Europe and Africa, fast asleep, except the watchmen ; 
and before him the silent Immensity and Palace of 
the Eternal, whereof our sun is but a porch-lamp?" 

•Early Monday morning we started back, south- 
ward. Lyngenfiord soon hove in sight, on the 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 331 

west shore of which is a long Hne of snow-capped 
mountains, five and six thousand feet high. They 
were distant, yet in the clear atmosphere looked 
so near. The captain of the steamer promised us 
a cotillion of whales, and the coronation of a 
mountain by the sun at midnight. The proper 
place was reached a little past ten o'clock in the 
evening. Great whales soon began their gambols, 
according to programme. In the distance was a 
mountain, with lofty dome, which the sun was 
Hearing behind a curtain of illuminated clouds. 
The ship was so placed that the coronation would 
take place, weather permitting, from eleven o'clock 
to near twelve, when the sun would emerge, full- 
orbed, into an open space, at midnight. The 
elements were propitious and the exhibition was 
unspeakably grand. Again I must let my unknown 
English friend, with his rich vocabulary of coloring, 
describe the indescribable. 

"The mountain's top, with the sun behind it, 
and with a thin chain of mist upon its shoulders, 
is about to be clothed in such splendor as I have 
not yet witnessed. The sun himself is invisible — 
not so the subdued majesty of his glory. The 
circling glory is before us in the sky, and in the 
midst of the glory is the dark but kingly head of 
the dusky Colossus — a head painted, as in some 
pictures of the Apostles, on a golden radiance of 
axled light. Now the thin seams of cloud of 
purplish-grey — an serial tapestry, held as by unseen 
fingers above the monarch — begin to burn all 



332 A "WINDING JOURNEY 

along their lower edges. One might think they 
had caught fire from the earth below, had not this 
new splendor been pure as that of the diamond. 
Now the halo around the mountain's stately brow 
expands, and the hanging tapestry of cloud pulses 
and flashes as its flaming fringe consumes the 
texture of purplish-grey. See how the cloud 
flickers and breaks up into glowing shreds, which 
float aloft in upward streaming films of dazzling 
fire. Below us is the sea — around us are the 
Silences — the sea an expanse of damascened steel, 
the air still as with a holy hush ; and, before us, 
high up in the heavens is the mountain's lofty 
dome, limned in lines of glistening light and 
diademed with living luster. The sun now glides 
out, and, just above the shoulder of the Giant, 
it hangs in the beautiful scene its perfect disk of 
glassy gold. Our tourists look at each other with 
thoughtful eyes, but speak not. The hush that is 
on all things is in their spirits. The silent rapture 
of the scene steals upon them, and theirs is the 
Sabbath of the soul. How eloquent is this reverent 
gazing at yonder beatific vision ! " 

We reached Tromso again early Tuesday morning. 
From there we sailed through the Raftsund between 
the Lofoden and the Vestersaalen Islands. The 
cod fisheries of the Lofodens is one of the most 
remarkable of the kind in the world. The main 
fishing season is from the middle of January to 
the middle of April. The shoals of fish are some- 
times 150 feet in vertical diameter. The sinker 



AKOIIND THE WORLD. 333 

on a line may be felt striking the fish as it descends. 
Professor Huxley computes that 120 millions of 
fish to the square mile, in a shoal off the Lofodens, 
is an underestimate. The annual catch there is 
over twenty-five millions. Twenty-five thousand 
Norwegians are engaged in the codfish industry 
during the season. 

Englishmen have established vast factories there 
for converting the heads, backbones, and other 
refuse of the fish into fertilizers. The fish-phosphates 
are exported to all parts of the world, and are of 
great commercial value. It is of more importance 
that the refuse of the great Norwegian fisheries 
should be made to feed flowers, fruits and vegetables 
in the gardens of Europe than that it should be 
left to feed gulls. The eider ducks, which abound 
among all these islands and on the coasts, are of 
more value than other sea-birds, but they are indus- 
trious, like the people, and know how to fish for 
themselves. Their precious feathers are gathered 
in considerable quantities and find their way to 
market. 

The scenery of these islands is Indescribably 
beautiful and grand. If one could imagine Switzer- 
land to undergo a depression of three or four 
thousand feet, so as to fill all the winding valleys 
with the sea, leaving the sharper peaks, destitute 
of vegetation, desolate spires of rock, standing 
several thousand feet above the maze of waters, 
covered as now with snow and glacier-ice, he might 
then have in his mind a very good picture of the 



334 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Lofoden group of islands as they now thrust them- 
selves up, sharp and innumerable, from the ocean. 
In some places the serrated peaks of splintered 
rocks have been compared to the teeth of colossal 
sharks. In other places the curved and contorted 
billows of granite look as though they had been 
shot up from the internal furnaces of the earth in 
vast liquid masses and suddenly congealed. Every- 
where are extinguished volcanoes. Waterfalls pour 
down their sides, from giddy heights, fed by glaciers 
melting in the warmth of summer. The steamer 
sails in and out of havens made by jutting buttresses 
of rock, gray and cloud-capped, in the midst of 
which it looks like a toy-ship floating on liquid 
glass. The shriek of the steam-whistle is echoed 
and re-echoed from near and far, till it is lost 
in a maze of sound as confused as the surrounding 
maze of water and stone. 

And when night comes on, that Is no night, 
the rocky spires are ablaze with the gold and 
crimson light of the low-circling sun. Cathedrals, 
vaster than the imagination of man ever conceived, 
are lit with altar-fires that burn with the radiance 
and glory of morning and evening blended into 
one. Nature is ministering to the Divinity that 
gave her birth. The midnight sun is shut out 
from view by screens of emblazoned rocks. Moun- 
tains of stone seem to be worshiping with rapture 
the unseen Deity of the distant heaven and trying 
to reveal Him to us in the mingled effulgence of 
every hue of light. The soft roar of the waterfall 



AROUND THE WORLD. 335 

supplies the sacred music, and the plash of waves 
upon. the silent shore seems like the subdued and 
breathless voice of prayer. 

Norwegian navigators, who are accustomed to 
sail through this region in the long continuous night 
of winter, affirm that the splendor of summer is 
surpassed by that of the sunless period when there 
is no day. Light is not then wanting. The aurora 
borealis shines so brightly that one can see to 
read by it. The whole arctic heaven is frequently 
so brightly illuminated as to extinguish the stars 
and dim the moon. From the crest of every wave 
on the storm-lashed sea electric lights flash as in 
a city illuminated. The clouds are floating pillars 
of fire. The snow-covered hills and mountains 
shed a radiance like the glare of burning towns. 
The busy fingers of the storm weave a garment 
of all colors, with which the earth is draped. 
The throbbing sea sends up pillars of light from 
its profoundest depths. The great revolving globe 
is a dynamo generating fires that supplement the 
absent sun. The tempest that sweeps over sea 
and roars through mountain crags fans sacrificial 
fires to guide the Norse mariner in his midnight 
course on the Arctic Ocean. 

The next forenoon we sailed for many hours 
along an almost perpendicular wall of rock, from 
three to six thousand feet high. Thin white clouds 
floated lazily among the sharp spires, the depressions 
and chasms between which were filled with masses 
of ice. In the afternoon we reached a point where 



336 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the great glacier of the Svartisen, forty miles long^ 
from twelve to twenty-five miles wide, covering an 
unexplored field 4,000 feet high, comes down nearly 
to the water's edge. The glacier, seen, in front, 
from a distance on the sea, looked like a vast 
flowing river of ice. I have seen many glaciers in 
Switzerland, the Tyrol and the Caucasus, but none 
more grand than this. 

Towards evening we started by the shortest 
route for Throndhjem, which we reached the next 
evening, after an absence of eight days. During 
about four hours on this last part of the voyage 
we were exposed to the open ocean, from which a 
gale was blowing towards the shore. Our staunch 
little steamer rolled and pitched fearfully. I heard 
all over the ship a concert of distressed tourists 
sacrificing to the Nemesis of the deep, but, strange 
to say, it was ascertained the next morning, on the 
testimony of the passengers themselves, that no 
one had been sea-sick during the night. 

It will perhaps be expected that I should give 
some account of the famous Malstrom. There was 
a picture of it in the geography that I studied 
when a boy at school, representing it as a terrible 
whirlpool drawing in and swallowing up a vessel 
which had unfortunately approached too near to it. 
The Malstrom, which is not a whirlpool, is caused 
by a pouring of the tide through a narrow strait 
between two islands. It is most savage when a 
spring-tide is met by a contrary wind opposing its 
regular flow. At one point the cataract seethes 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 337 

with fury at almost any state of the tide. The 
Malstrom, however, is not so fierce as the Saltstrom, 
a similar current pouring in and out of the Skjerstad 
Fiord, between an island and the main land. An 
enormous mass of water passes through the strait 
four times a day, as the tide rises and falls, forming 
a vast roaring cataract. It is much more imposing 
and dangerous than the Malstrom. Steamers can 
pass through it only during an hour at high or 
low tide. We passed through it after leaving 
Bodo, without sense of danger. The Malstrom, 
formidable enough to Viking ships, was for a long 
time exaggerated into fable, dissipated by modern 
steam navigation. 

Thus endfxl a glorious cruise to the famed 
" Nordland/' I hope this account of my experience 
may sharpen the appetite of some to visit the 
fiords and islands of the Norwegian coast, to behold 
for themselves the wonders of the Arctic Sea, and 
^ look with their own eyes upon the unspeakable 
splendors of the midnight sun. 



338 A WINDING JOUKNEY 



CHAPTER XII. 

COPENHAGEN. DENMARK. SCANDINAVIA. SLESVIG. 

HOLSTEIN. 

N my passage from Malmo to Copenhagen I 
fell in with a very intelligent gentleman, 
who had long been the head master of a 
high-school in the capital of Denmark. The con- 
versation soon turned upon the possible union of 
the different Scandinavian countries into one nation. 
He remarked at once that such a thing would be 
impossible. The feeling of hostility to the Swedes 
among the Danes, he said, was stronger even than 
their hostility towards the Germans, notwithstanding 
the recent bitter wars. Hatred of the Swedes had 
been nursed for ten centuries, and had grown with 
conflicts perpetually renewed. He advised me not 
to look in Denmark for any sentiment of justice 
even towards their Scandinavian brethren, on the 
other side of the Sound. There was a time, he 
continued, when the three kingdoms might have 
been united, but it had long since gone by. I was 
not convinced by his assertions without argument, 
and reminded him of the famous Scottish Declaration 
of Independence in 1320, wherein the men of the 
northern kingdom pledged one another that, " So 



AROUND THE WORLD. 339 

long as a hundred of us remain In life, we will 
never be brought under the dominion of the 
English ; for it is not for glory, or riches, or honors 
that we fight, but for freedom alone, which no good 
man will part with, except with his life," and yet 
in the Kingdom of Great Britain, to-day, no men 
are more loyal than the Scotch. And I reminded 
him that his own country only a few centuries ago 
was broken up into tribes more hostile to one 
another than the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians 
now are. 

The traveler must be continually on the alert 
and not allow the teachings of history to be set 
aside by the opinions of those whom he meets. 
It ,is quite probable that there never will be a 
union of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark in one 
Scandinavian nation, but their continued separation 
will have other causes than local antagonisms, which, 
all history teaches us, may be gradually overcome. 
I shall recur to the subject after a brief study of the 
admirable Danes and their prospering little country. 

Copenhagen (Kjobenhavn, Merchants' Haven), 
a city of about 300,000 inhabitants, the capital and 
chief city of Denmark, is situated on the Island 
of Zealand (Sj^lland, sea-land), where a flat penin- 
sula runs out eastward towards the small island of 
Amager, or Amak, and with it forms a spacious 
harbor capable of holding 5,000 ships. The penin- 
sula and the island are united by two fine bridges. 
The part of the city on the island is called 
Christianshavn. 



340 A WINDING JOURNEY 

I arrived at Copenhagen a little after noon, 
and spent the rest of the day in riding from 
end to end of the city on the street cars. 
There, as elsewhere in Europe, the street cars have 
seats on top, from which the view is much better 
than from the inside. There is always somebody 
at your side, familiar with things local, who can 
tell you, if you understand the language, what 
any striking object or building is. Citizens are 
usually delighted to Impart information to strangers. 
If one is familiar with both German and English, 
he learns the drift of Scandinavian speech, which 
is an intermediate tongue, as soon as his ear becomes 
accustomed to it. 

The Kongens Nytory is the central square • of 
Copenhagen, from which a dozen streets run In 
all directions. It is the focus of the city's life. 
Between it and the harbor is the principal business 
quarter. North and east of It lies the aristocratic 
quarter, with royal and ministerial palaces, on the 
Amalienborg Square, terminating in gardens and 
promenades facing the sea, In the midst of which 
stands the citadel. The suburbs are beautifully 
shaded with trees. The old ramparts, for which 
there Is no further use, are now planted and afford 
pleasant walks. 

In the evening I went to the TIvolI Gardens, 
which are the finest of the kind in Europe. Tens 
of thousands of the people flock there of a summer 
evening, to enjoy the extensive walks In the midst 
of forest trees, to listen to the music of several 



AROUND THE WORLD. 341 

bands, playing at different points, to witness shows 
of various kinds, and to see the illuminations which 
take place every night. An ingenious method of 
illuminating has been devised there, which consists 
in simultaneously lighting thousands of gas jets 
within globes of different-colored glass. Thus vast 
symbolic pictures are suddenly flashed out on a 
dark background of somber trees, very dazzling to 
the imagination of the great crowds promenading 
back and forth. It is the place of all others to 
see the people of Copenhagen. They are well- 
dressed, orderly, and polite. I did not see an 
intoxicated person among them, although beer and 
wine were sold at various places in the 'Tivoli.' 
Thousands and thousands of citizens, mostly in 
family groups, were taking their suppers at tables 
In the open air or in booths. 

The next morning I went to the Vor Friekirke, 
the metropolitan cathedral church, to see Thorwald- 
sen's famous statues of Christ and the Apostles. 
The church is new, having been rebuilt since the 
destructive and murderous bombardment of the 
city by the English in 1807. The statue of Christ 
faces you at the far end of the church as you enter. 
In front. of It is a baptismal font, in form of a shell, 
supported by a winged figure exquisitely chiseled 
in marble. On either side of the church are 
arranged the statues of the Apostles. These fine 
figures, of more than life size, were designed by 
Thorwaldsen, and In part executed by his own 
masterly hand. It struck me that statuary, when 



342 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the subjects are chosen with good taste, pi^operly 
grouped and well executed, is, in some respects, 
preferable to painting for decorating a place of 
worship. It has the advantage of being more 
definite and more clearly visible. It requires 
genius, however, to keep it within the strict 
bounds of religious propriety. I have seen hun- 
dreds of churches far more beautiful than this one 
in Copenhagen, but none in which I should prefer 
to worship. 

From the church I went to the Thorwaldsen 
Museum. It is a large hollow-square building 
which contains a great number of the sculptor's 
works, a gift of which he made to his native city. 
The outer walls are painted yellow and represent 
the reception of the artist on his return from Rome. 
He was the son of a poor ship-carpenter at 
Copenhagen, and was born with a genius for plastic 
art. As great poets in their childhood have lisped 
in numbers, Thorwaldsen carved notable figure- 
heads for ships in the yard where his father worked, 
in the years of his boyhood. In 1793 he won the 
first gold medal for design at the Academy of 
Copenhagen, and with it the privilege of three 
years' residence abroad for the purpose of study. 
He went to Rome, where he arrived in 1797. 
Canova soon became his friend, and Thomas Hope 
has won the gratitude of all lovers of art for his 
early patronage of the great sculptor. Thorwaldsen 
showed a preference for classical and mythological 
subjects, but his Procession to Golgotha, his St, 




IPflilif'H 

THORWALDSEN's VENUS. 



AEOUND THE "WOULD. 343 

John preaching in the Wilderness, and his Christ 
and his Twelve Apostles, attest his ability to deal 
with sacred art. On his return from Rome he 
was assigned apartments in the Palace. He died 
in 1844, and his remains are buried alone in the 
central court of the museum. Flowers I saw 
blooming over his grave. Never was man of 
genius more fortunate in his life and sepulture. 
He has conferred glory upon his country and his 
people cherish his memory. To me he is the 
greatest sculptor since Phidias, except Michael 
Angelo. His Venus is more exquisite than that 
of Canova, and is only second to the Venus de 
Medici, the materpiece of Cleomenes. 

Close by the Thorwaldsen Museum is the Royal 
Palace of Christiansborg, or rather its charred 
skeleton, for it was burned, near the close of 1884. 
The pictures and a large portion of the magnificent 
library were saved. The King now resides in the 
Amalienborg Palace. 

The Chateau of Rosenberg contains Jewels, 
tapestries, gold tables, old furniture, a throne of 
massive silver, the Oldenborg Horn, and many other 
relics of the Danish kings. It also contains the 
completest collection of earlier Venetian glass in 
Europe. 

The University, occupying an old quadrangular 
building, is the apex of an excellent systern of 
national education. It has about fifty professors 
and teachers, and is attended by more than a 
thousand pupils. In Denmark, education Is com- 



344 A WINDING JOURNEY 

pulsoiy from seven to fourteen. There are 3,000 
schools for the people, and six training colleges to 
prepare teachers for them. Colleges for classical 
and other higher education are plentiful in all the 
larger towns. No country in the world has a com- 
pleter and more general system of education. The 
Danes are an especially enlightened people. 

Copenhagen has many learned societies. Especial 
attention is paid to early Scandinavian literature 
and to Scandinavian antiquities. The Museum of 
Northern Antiquities, in the Palace of the Princes, 
is rich in specimens of the arms and implements 
of the stone, bronze, and iron ages. The classifica- 
tion is excellent in 12,000 numbers. 

Denmark, whose territory extended into German 
and Wendic lands so far in the thirteenth century, 
under the Waldemars, that the Baltic was almost 
her private possession, has suffered a culmination 
of misfortunes in the present century. She lost 
a great naval battle with the English in 1801. The 
English bombarded Copenhagen in 1807, killed 
2,000 people, destroyed a considerable part of the 
city, and captured the Danish fleet. In 1866 
Austria and Prussia wrested from Denmark Slesvig 
and Holstein, the most fertile portion of the 
kingdom. Two big dogs pitched on to a little one 
and despoiled it. Denmark has less than 15,000 
square miles of territory left, and little more than 
2,000,000 of inhabitants. 

In passing through the small country I saw 
rich fields of grain, fine orchards, and numerous 



AROUND THE WORLD. 345 

herds of cattle. The irregular western coast is 
low and sandy, and the navigation of the bordering 
shallow sea is very dangerous. The people live 
mostly by agriculture. The population of Denmark 
is about the same in number as that of Norway, 
yet only one-tenth as many are engaged in the 
fishing industry. Denmark produces no lumber, 
and few minerals. Two-thirds of the whole country, 
however, is arable land, the tilling of which is the 
chief occupation of the inhabitants. The low flat 
country has no navigable rivers. 

In no European country is the laboring popu- 
lation in a more comfortable condition. The women 
spin, weave and manufacture into garments for 
home use the flax and wool produced on the small 
farms. The men, besides tilling the soil, make 
simple furniture, farming-implements and wooden 
shoes. The habitations are spacious and very clean. 
The people are industrious, saving, neat, religious 
and intelligent. Everybody can read and write. 
Contentment and peace prevail everywhere. Life 
among the Danes is sweet, wholesome, sober, frugal, 
and earnest. One visits the neat villages and 
densely populated rural districts with satisfaction 
and renewed faith in human nature. 

The people of Denmark enjoy, in large measure, 
political liberty. In former times the monarch was 
an absolute ruler. The transition to constitutional 
government has been effected without revolution. 
A parliament (Rigsdag) is composed of an upper 
house (Landsthing), consisting of sixty-six members, 



346 A WINDING JOURNEY 

twelve of whom are appointed by the king for 
hfe, the rest of whom, are chosen by electoral 
bodies representing the large tax-payers, and a 
lower house (Folkething), consisting of over one 
hundred members elected for three years by universal 
suffrage. The Rigsdag meets every year, considers 
the annual accounts which must be submitted to it 
by the finance minister, and passes such measures 
as may be required for the public good. To it 
the seven members of the Executive Royal Privy 
Council are individually and collectively responsible. 
Thus the government is under the direct control 
of the people's representatives. The King is little 
more than the executive, with powers less extensive 
than those of the President of the United States. 

The question is often asked, why Denmark, 
Norway, and Sweden, which have substantially the 
same liberal governments, whose people are of 
the same race, with almost identical speech, cannot 
be united in one powerful Scandinavian nation? 
Norway and Denmark were united many centuries, 
till the Congress of Vienna, which fixed the political 
boundaries of all Europe, transferred Norway to 
Sweden. At the close of the fourteenth century 
the three kingdoms were united under the rule of 
a woman, the great Margaret, by the Union of 
Kalmar, which bears the date of July 20, 1397. 
That famous document, signed by the magnates of 
Denmark, Sweden and Norway, has been summarized 
by Boyesen, in his Story of Norway, as follows 
(p. 470): 



AROUND THE WORLD. 347 

"I. The three kingdoms were to be eternally 
united under one king. 

" 2. If the king died without issue, the magnates 
of the three kingdoms should come together and 
peaceably elect a successor. 

"3. Each kingdom should be governed in 
accordance with its own laws and customs ; but if 
one of the kingdoms was attacked, the two others 
should, in good faith, assist in its defense. 

"4. The king and his councillors from the 
three kingdoms should have the right to enter into 
foreign alliances, and whatever they agreed upon 
should be binding upon the three countries." 

"This," continues Mr. Boyesen, "was the famous 
Kalmar Union, which might have been a blessing 
to the brother kingdoms, but which to two of them, 
at least, became a curse. At first sight it seemed 
a rational arrangement which promised success. 
The three nations were so closely akin that they 
understood without effort each other's languages, 
which were but slight modifications of the same 
original tongue. If the forces which had been 
wasted in mutual wars and rivalries could have 
been combined for mutual help and common 
purposes, the Kingdom of Scandinavia would have 
risen in prosperity and strength, and would have 
taken a place among the European powers. 
Under a wise and far-sighted policy, the society 
of the three kingdoms could have been gradually 
amalgamated, its similarities and common inte*- 
ests emphasized, its differences slowly obliterated. 



348 A WINDING JOURNEY 

If the kings of the Union had had the sHghtest 
conception of the task that was presented to them, 
and had been capable of viewing themselves apart 
from their Danish nationality, such results might 
have been achieved. But they were, with a single 
exception, utterly destitute of political ability and 
foresight. They were determined to raise the 
Danish to the position of a dominant nationality 
and to reduce Norway and Sweden to a provincial 
relation. Hereby they aroused again the ancient 
jealousies. They sent a troup of Danish and 
German nobles to prey upon the latter countries, 
which they seemed to regard as conquered territory. 
The Swedes complained of being obliged to pay 
taxes in order to defray the expenses of Danish 
wars, and they were vehement in their denunciation 
of the extortion of the Danish officials who plun- 
dered their provinces like Roman proconsuls." 

Margaret's successor, Erik, the son of her niece, 
undid her work with fatal rapidity. After an 
inglorious war of twenty-five years with the rulers 
of Slesvig-Holstein, he lost his triple kingdom, 
created by the tact and consummate ability of 
Margaret, and died in obscurity and misery. If 
Margaret, who has been called, with more pedantry 
than historic accuracy, the " Semiramis of the north," 
had been succeeded by rulers capable of continuing 
her work, the Kingdom of Scandinavia might have 
occupied to-day an important place among the 
great powers of Europe. It is too often the fate 
of noble women to toil fruitlessly for unworthy men. 




aQUEEN/ MARGARET, .OE'iI^ENMARK. , 



AROUND THE "WORLD. 349 

With the rise of the House of Vasa, or Wasa, in 
Sweden, culminating in the great Gustavus Adolphus, 
whose reign was guided by the abiHty and poHtical 
wisdom of Oxenstierna, and terminating in the 
male line with the erratic and brilliant Charles, 
or Karl XII., all hope of a renewed Scandinavian 
union was indefinitely postponed. In our day, the 
reigning houses of Denmark and Sweden make a 
union of the two kingdoms an impossibility. One 
daughter of the King of Denmark is Empress of 
Russia. Another daughter is the Princess of Wales. 
A son is King of Greece, placed upon the throne 
by the great powers of Europe. The King of 
Sweden is not only strong in the affection and 
loyalty of his people, but his dominions have been 
guaranteed to him by treaty. Neither of these 
monarchs would or could give way to the other. 

Besides, the establishment of a strong Scandina- 
vian nation would disturb the European equilibrium, 
and would not be permitted by the great powers. 
The present political order of things requires 
Scandinavian separation, not combination. Unity 
of blood, religion, speech, is not strong enough to 
overcome political barriers erected by the conflicts 
and settlements of the past four centuries. 

Homogeneous material exists for the formation 
of a Scandinavian people, a Scandinavian nation, 
but .the elements lack cohesion, and no exigency is 
likely to arise which will subject the mass to a 
welding heat. If the common sentiment of religious 
and political liberty in Denmark, Sweden and 



350 A wmDiNa journey 

Norway were endangered by a common enemy, 
there is no doubt that all antagonisms would speedily 
cease, that blood and treasure would be freely given 
in a united effort to preserve what is more precious 
than life. And let the danger to a sentiment of 
liberty, that dominates all Scandinavians alike, con- 
tinue and become permanent, there is no question 
that ways would soon be found to consolidate the 
strength of all. The soul, however, the creative 
principle, is wanting to a new nation that has never 
been quite born. The elements are ready, but the 
time is not ripe, and will not be, till a new order 
shall reign in Europe. 

Hence that mysterious power which we call 
patriotism is not very strong among the Scandina- 
vians, and whatever of intensity there may be in 
it is local, not general. America is a good place 
to observe and study this characteristic. Tens of 
thousands of Scandinavians come to this country, 
bringing vast wealth of industry, energy, integrity, 
thrift, sobriety, Intelligence ; but they celebrate no 
anniversaries of the fatherland, never ask to hoist 
their national flag on our town-halls, never parade 
the streets with a native uniform, never commemorate 
a great event in the history of the land left behind 
them, but become quickly absorbed in the mass of 
the American people, adding rich blood to the life- 
currents of their adopted country. Here they .are 
satisfied to find the national liberty which they 
have just missed at home, as their ancestors have 
missed it for a thousand years. The Scandinavian 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 351 

is thoughtfully prudent and practical ; he has no 
inclination to risk life and possession for an ideal, 
but he will fight fiercely to keep what he has. He 
believes in self-help, although he may be slow to 
help another. He looks before he leaps, and wastes 
no energy on the impracticable. He is not a 
revolutionist, and is willing to wait on Providence 
for any political or other good that may come with 
the world's growth. He conserves such liberty as 
he has, will do murderous battle in its defense, but 
will run no risk of losing it in a hazardous attempt 
to gain more. Neither in Denmark, Norway, nor 
Sweden, have men secretly or openly, agitated for 
united Scandinavia, as the Italians agitated, at the 
risk of purse and throat, for united Italy. The 
motive is wanting, and the Scandinavians are of 
colder temperament. The Northmen once con- 
quered southern Italy, and there, in the midst of 
plenty, forgot their easy tie of patriotism, as they 
forgot it in England, as they forgot it in the 
Varangian rule of Russia, as they forget it in the 
United States to-day. In a certain sense, the 
Northmen have builded nations everywhere except 
at home. They have furnished many good kings 
to other peoples, but many poor ones to themselves. 
Denmark has more miles of railway, in pro- 
portion to its size, than Great Britain. For that 
reason it is easy to travel over the little kingdom 
in a brief time. However, it is not necessary to 
give details that have no special interest, and are 
not in harmony with my general plan. 



352 A WESTDINa JOTJRNET 

From Copenhagen I went through the Island 
of Zealand, crossed the Great Belt, went through 
the Island of Funen, crossed the Little Belt, and 
then traversed Slesvig from north to south. The 
inhabitants of Slesvig are mostly Danes with a few 
Low Dutch, especially along the river Eyder in 
the south. I then traversed Holstein to Hamburg, 
on the Elbe. The inhabitants of Holstein are 
Low Dutch. It was a long time a fief of the old 
German Empire ; for which reason, when it belonged 
to Denmark, the Danish King was a member of 
the German Diet. 

No part of Europe has a more complex political 
history than Slesvig-Holstein. It may be called 
a double floating point between the two fixed points 
of Germany and Denmark. Ethnographically, Hol- 
stein belongs to the former and Slesvig to the 
latter. Slesvig, the natural prolongation of Denmark 
to the Eyder, never was a fief of the empire, like 
Holstein, but was for a time a separate duchy. The 
two became a part of the Kingdom of Denmark 
in the eighteenth century. The inhabitants of 
Slesvig-Holstein revolted and carried on war with 
Denmark from 1841 to 185 1, but were subdued. 
In 1864 Denmark had to give up both duchies to 
Austria and Prussia, which had united in a successful 
war against the little northern kingdom. Prussia 
and Austria fell out about the common conquest, 
and the latter had to give it up to the former after 
the disastrous battle of Koniggratz. 

But I have no inclination to undertake here a 



AROUND THE WORLD. 353 

restatement of the Slesvig-Holstein question. It 
has been said that only one man ever understood 
it, and that, unfortunately for the cause of historical 
accuracy, he died before imparting his knowledge 
to another. As I have no "medium" through 
whom- to communicate with the departed erudite, 
I have no hope of throwing new light on the 
entangled subject. Prussia agreed to restore the 
northern, or essentially Scandinavian part of Slesvig 
to Denmark, but has not kept her promise. 

It is a curious fact that Prince Christian of 
Slesvig-Holstein-Gucksborg, whose title to the 
Danish succession was determined by the London 
Protocol of 1852, should very soon after ascending 
the throne, as Christian IX., in 1863, have lost 
the essentially hereditary part of his kingdom. It 
is also a curious fact that Alexander II. of Russia 
should, in his easy-going way, have allowed his 
uncle William of Prussia to wrest from his daughter- 
in-law's father the fairest part of his realm. History 
has its revenges. The German historian, Dahlmann, 
exhumed in the Holstein archives at Preetz, in 
1848, a deed signed by a Danish king at Ribe, in 
1460, by which he stipulated for himself and his 
successors, that the two duchies should remain 
forever undivided {euuig bliben toosamende ungedeeli), 
the publication of which again set political Europe 
in a blaze over a question already hopelessly 
entangled. Just when Frederick VII. granted a 
very liberal constitution to his subjects, this fatal 
document helped prevent a conciliation of the 

2Z 



354 A WINDING JOURNEY 

people of Slesvig-Holstein, and paved the way to 
the disasters of 1864. It is not so strange, after 
all, that governments hesitate to open state archives 
to delving historians. 

An American scholar of ability, with probable 
years enough before him, with an aptitude for 
historical research, with a genius for lucid historical 
composition, with sufficient fortune to command 
needful and legitimate aids, would, in my judgment, 
find a noble subject in Scandinavia for the work 
of a life-time. He might do, with honor to 
American letters, with fame and ultimate fortune 
to himself, for the Northlands what Motley has 
done for the Netherlands, what Prescott has done 
for Spain. The harvest is plenteous and the reapers 
are few. The rich field is unoccupied by a single 
man of genius. 



AROUND THE WOELD. 355 



CHAPTER XIII. 



HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 



'he Netherlands, now divided into Holland and 
Belgium, is one of the most interesting 
♦ countries of Europe. I traversed Holland 
twice last year and spent some days in Amsterdam, 
the Hague, and Rotterdam. I have crossed Belgium 
several times, know something of its most important 
cities, and remained last summer at Brussels and 
in the neighborhood nearly a week. 

Of the 4,000,000 inhabitants of Holland, seventy 
jDer cent, are Dutch, fourteen per cent. Frieslanders, 
and thirteen per cent. Flemings. The Dutch are 
descendants of the Batavi, who occupied the delta 
of the Rhine when the country was conquered by 
the Romans. Hence they are sometimes called 
Batavians. The Frieslanders occupy the northern 
part of Holland, and are descendants of the 
ancient Frisii. They speak a language kindred 
to the Anglo-Saxon. The Flemings occupy the 
southern part of the country and their language 
differs little from the Dutch. All the people of 
Holland are Teutons. 

Of the 6,000,000 inhabitants of Belgium, fifty- 
seven per cent, are Flemings, They occupy the 



356 A WINDING JOURNEY 

northern part of the country, contiguous to Holland. 
The Dutch, Frieslanders, and Flemings of both 
countries number seven and a half millions, and 
all speak dialects of Low German. The southern 
and more elevated part of Belgium is occupied 
by Walloons, who are descendants of the old 
Gallic Belgse. They speak a patois which passes 
for French. They are not of Teutonic stock. 
Their gray eyes, dark hair, and vivacious tem- 
perament contrast strongly with the blue eyes, fair 
complexion and phlegmatic character of the inhabi- 
tants of the low-lands in the north. 

Holland is a small kingdom, with 12,600 square 
miles of territory. Belgium has only 11,400, 
although it has much the larger population. It is 
not only the most densely inhabited country of 
Europe, but the most densely inhabited region of 
the globe, except some parts of the valley of the 
Ganges and portions of the great plain of China. 
Both Belgium and Holland, with ten millions of 
inhabitants, can be traversed by railroad in a 
few hours. 

The whole of Holland Is level and low. The 
Rhine with half-a-dozen large and diverging outlets,, 
the Maas, and the Scheld, run through it to the 
sea. These rivers would spread out into bayous, 
if their channels were not guarded by strong 
embankments. Their current is very sluggish 
through the flat lands of Holland, and the spring 
floods come down, from the distant uplands farther 
south, before the ice is broken up on the cold 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 357 

plains, increasing the danger of inundation. Much 
of Holland is lower than the sea, which must be 
kept out by dykes. One dyke is fifty miles long, 
consisting of three parallel walls of piles, between 
which there is a filling of tamped earth, and 
guarded on the sea side with massive blocks of 
granite brought over from Norway. Nearly one- 
half of the land would be submerged were it not 
for the dykes along the rivers and the coast. In 
the thirteenth century the sea broke through into 
a small inland lake and formed the Zuider Zee, 
2IO miles in circumference. A great company has 
recently been formed to drain a portion of it, as 
the Haarlem lake was successfully drained about 
forty years ago, making seventy-two square miles 
of land. 

The northern and western portion of Belgium is 
low, like Holland, but the work of protecting it from 
marine and fluvial inundation is not so great. The 
southern and eastern portion of the land gradually 
rises, through the Ardennes, to a height of 2,000 
feet on the frontier. The Maas, or the Meuse, 
and the Scheldt, which have a tendency to spread 
out into broad estuaries in Holland, traverse Bel- 
gium and, being navigable, form highways of 
traffic. 

Holland is covered with a network of canals, 
joining river to river, in all directions. These 
Grachts, or navigable canals, afford ways of cheap 
transportation. At the same time they constitute 
a part of the general drainage system. Between 



358 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the canals are innumerable ditches, from which the 
water is pumped by means of windmills. The 
intervening bodies of land, thus drained, are called 
polders. In the Dutch language, a polder means 
a drained pool, or morass. These polders make 
good pastures and meadows. The windmills, all 
over Holland, with their large sails, busy, night 
and day, pumping the water out of ditches cut 
through the pools and morasses into the canals, 
form a picturesque and unique feature of the 
landscape. 

Into the lowlands of Belgium the same system 
of navigable canals and ditches for drainage is 
extended. 

In Holland, railways are numerous; but in 
Belgium, there are more miles of railway, in pro- 
portion to area, than in any other country in the 
world. 

In Holland the people are extensively engaged 
in rearing cattle, and in making butter and cheese. 
When one sees with his own eyes how miraculously 
neat the industrious Dutch housewives are, he finds 
his faith in the cheese made by them increased to 
indisputable belief. As the polders are much better 
adapted to grazing than to the raising of grain, 
it is not surprising that dairy products are more 
extensively exported than cereals. The fisheries 
are of considerable importance, but are of little 
importance in comparison with the fisheries of 
Norway. Shipbuilding and distilling are the two 
great industries of Holland. There are about 700 



AROUND THE WOULD. ' 359 

yards for the construction of vessels. As coal and 
other fuel are wanting, windmills are used for sawing 
timber. At Schiedam there are 200 distilleries in 
operation. Immense quantities of arrack, distilled 
from rice, a vile spirit, are brought from the Dutch 
colony of Java, and transformed at Schiedam into 
fine Holland gin. It shortens the road to paradise, 
or the other place, and is much esteemed. Holland 
produces excellent linen, and at all the seaports 
sugar refineries have been established in connection 
with the colonial trade. 

Belgium abounds in coal, beyond any other 
European country, area considered. It also pro- 
duces iron in abundance. At Liege 20,000 men 
are engaged in the manufacture of cannon and 
arms. I don't know whether the products of 
Schiedam or of Liege are the more destructive 
to mankind. Other cities, however, on the great 
iron and coal belts produce vast quantities of 
machinery and other articles that are needed in 
the peaceable pursuits of life. All the cities in the 
lowlands of Belgium are still engaged, as in the 
middle ages, in the weaving of linen. The lace 
of Brussels and Mecheln (Malines) is famous every- 
where. Only about one-fourth of the population 
is engaged in agriculture, yet large quantities of 
hops are produced for export, and more than 100 
factories for making beetroot sugar have been 
established. 

In Holland sixty per cent, of the people are 
Protestants, thirty-eight per cent. Catholics, and 



360 A WINDING JOURNEY 

two per cent. Jews, In Belgium nearly all the 
inhabitants are Catholics. In both countries there 
is complete religious tolerance. 

It is a singular fact that, in Holland, one-fourth 
of the men and one-third of the women can neither 
read nor write. Recently, however, provisions have 
been made for more general education. The Uni- 
versities of Groningen, Utrecht, and Leyden furnish 
means for education of the highest order. There 
is a new university at Amsterdam, supported by 
the municipality. 

In Belgium there is a vast amount of ignorance 
among the people. Until quite recently the Catholic 
clergy have controlled education. There is an inde- 
pendent university at Brussels, and there are State 
universities at Liege and Ghent. The Catholic 
University of Louvain is the most flourishing in 
the kingdom. 

The Netherlands have produced some of the 
most renowned scholars of Europe. The names 
of Erasmus, Grotius, Huygens, Spinoza, and 
Boerhaave will occur to the student of literary 
history. All these men wrote in Latin. Many 
writers in the vernacular are famous. In the 
seventeenth century Holland occupied the front 
rank in European literature. A great school of 
art attests the genius of the people. The names 
of Rembrandt, Ruysdaal, Gerard Dow, Paul Potter, 
Jan Steen, are familiar to all the world. 

Amsterdam, or Amsteldam, meaning the dam 
of the Amstel, one of the outlets of the Rhine, 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 361 

is the chief city of Holland. It has about 350,000 
inhabitants. It is built in the form of an amphi- 
theatre, with concentric canals running in semi- 
circular courses. The banks are planted with trees, 
outside of the winding rows of which are walks or 
carriage-ways. Over the canals are three hundred 
bridges. The whole city stands on piles driven in the 
sand. Over thirteen thousand piles were required 
to make a foundation for the Stadhuis, which was 
turned into a palace for King Louis Bonaparte. 
A canal, fifteen miles long, deep enough to float 
ships drawing twenty-two feet, connects Amsterdam 
with the sea. The North Holland Canal, fifty-two 
miles long, fifteen and a half feet deep, extends 
from the city to the entrance of the Zuider Zee. 
Within the past twenty years new streets and 
parks have been added to the city. Tramways 
now extend to the suburbs in all directions. The 
buildings stand with their gables to the street, 
giving to the flat city a novel and picturesque 
appearance. The whole country around Amsterdam 
can be flooded in a few hours by opening dykes. 
This, however, is not a certain means of defense, 
for Pichegru, in the winter of 1794-95, approached 
the city on the ice and captured the Dutch fleet 
with cavalry. The first thing that I did after 
arriving at Amsterdam was to search for the house 
where the great philosopher Spinoza was born. 
Then I went to see the process of cutting and 
polishing diamonds and other precious stones, for 
which this city is renowned. The finest royal jewels 



362 A WINDING JOURNEY 

of modern times have been through the skilled 
hands of Amsterdam lapidaries. Good copies of 
these in paste are shown to visitors. At Zaandam, 
five miles from the city, they show you the house 
where Peter the Great lived and worked in 1697. 

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a beautiful 
city of about 400,000 inhabitants. It has been 
called a diminutive Paris. It is so well known to 
travelers that it is not necessary to describe it 
here in detail. I saw the city illuminated on a 
warm summer night, last August (1887). The 
main streets, the palaces, parks, gardens, public 
buildings, many private houses, hotels, were ablaze 
with colored lights. The illumination brought out 
in relief, against a dark background of sky, the 
fine old Gothic Hotel de Ville, with its slender 
spire 364 feet high, standing in the square where 
Egmont and Hoorn were executed, under the eye 
of Alva, who was looking out of a window In the 
Maison du Roi, just opposite. The fine new Palais 
de Justice, of immense size, built of Belgian marble> 
standing on an eminence overlooking the city, 
seemed a great mass of fire. The famed Porte 
de Hai, an old city gate, looked finer under 
illumination than by sunlight. All the people of 
Brussels were out of doors and filled the streets. 
I counted over four thousand in one large beer- 
garden. Even on the celebrated Manikin Fountain 
was thrown a flood of artificial light. Monuments 
and cathedrals, old and new, had an enchanted 
look in the eeneral radiance. 




DUKE OF ALVA. 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 363 

The Hague, or s'Gravenhage, meaning the 
Count's Hedge or enclosure, the capital of Holland, 
is, considering the lowness and flatness of the site, 
a beautiful city. It has nearly 150,000 inhabitants, 
and has been called the "largest village in Europe." 
The Royal Museum contains many good pictures 
of the Dutch school. I looked around for the 
house where Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum 
clock, was born, but did not succeed in finding it. 
The Palace in the Wood (Bosch), surrounded with 
a fine forest of oaks and beeches, with its beautiful 
interior, interested me more than any other building 
at the Dutch capital. 

It is not necessary to describe here any of the 
well-known Flemish cities of Belgium. Bruges, 
taking its name from fifty bridges in the city, was, 
three hundred years ago, the great commercial 
emporium of northern Europe. Antwerp is the 
most important port of Belgium. Its population 
numbers about 250,000. In it are many of the 
best pictures of Rubens and Van Dyck. The new 
docks, built at a cost of twenty millions of dollars, 
are among the finest in Europe. 

I visited other Netherland cities, but any descrip- 
tion of them would not further my general object. 

The history of the Netherlands is long and 
intensely interesting. Only a few points of it 
need to be touched upon here, and in briefest 
outline. 

In the fifteenth century the Dukes of Burgundy 
played a great part in the affairs of Europe. They 



364 A WINDING JOUENET 

acquired, by marriage, by purck'^se by conquest, 
by any means, as much territory as possible. They 
obtained the Netherlands, including the present 
territory of Holland and Belgium, and much that 
has gone to France. The flourishing cities of the 
Low Countries made the Dukes of Burgundy the 
richest princes in Europe. Mary of Burgundy, 
after the death of her father, inherited his estates, 
including the Netherlands. Her son Philip married 
Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of 
Spain. In this way the Low Countries were united 
to the Crown of Castile. Charles, the issue of 
Mary's son and Joanna, inherited not only Burgundy 
and the Netherlands, but also Castile and Aragon. 
And when his grandfather Maximilian died, in 
15 19, he was elected Emperor. Thus he is known 
in history as Charles I. of Spain and Charles V. 
of the German Empire. In 1555 he retired to a 
monastery and gave up all his dominions to his 
son Philip, who reigned from 1556 to 1598. Of 
course the Netherlands were included in the vast 
possessions of Philip II. 

"The union of no two countries," as Mr. Motley 
says, "could be less likely to prove advantageous 
or agreeable than that of the Netherlands and 
Spain. They were widely separated geographically, 
while in history, manners, and politics, they were 
utterly opposed to each other. Spain, which had 
just assumed the form of a single State by the 
combination of all its kingdoms, with its haughty 
nobles descended from petty kings, and arrogating 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 365 

almost sovereign power within their domains, with 
Its fierce enthusiasm for the CathoHc reHgion, which, 
in the course of long warfare with the Saracens, 
had become the absorbing characteristic of the 
whole nation, with its sparse population scattered 
over a wide and stern country, with a military 
spirit which led nearly all classes to prefer poverty 
to the wealth attendant upon degrading pursuits 
of trade — Spain, with her gloomy, martial, and 
exaggerated character, was the absolute contrast 
of the Netherlands. These provinces had been 
rarely combined into a whole, but there was natural 
af^nity in their character, history, and position. 
There was life, movement, bustling activity every- 
where. An energetic population swarmed In all 
the flourishing cities which dotted the surface of 
a contracted and highly cultivated country. Their 
ships were the carriers of the world; their mer- 
chants, if invaded in their rights, engaged in 
vigorous warfare with their own funds and their 
own frigates; their fabrics were prized over the 
whole earth ; their burghers possessed the wealth 
of princes, lived with royal luxury, and exercised 
vast political influence ; their love of liberty was 
their dominant passion. Their religious ardor had 
not been fully awakened; but the events of the 
next generation were to prove that in no respect 
more than in the religious sentiment were the two 
races opposed to each other. It was as certain 
that the Netherlands would be fierce reformers as 
that the Spaniards would be uncompromising per- 



366 A WINDING JOURNEY 

secutors. Unhallowed was the union between 
nations thus utterly contrasted." 

Philip' was the bigoted, tyrannical ruler of the 
most powerful monarchy in Europe. He began 
his reign by making war upon the Pope, as the 
sovereign of a temporal kingdom. His government 
of the Netherlands, administered by his lieutenant 
the Duke of Alva, led to revolt. The war of 
rebellion began in 1568 and lasted till 1609. Under 
the wise, prudent, and patient leadership of William 
Prince of Orange, the northern provinces of the 
Netherlands achieved their independence. The 
southern provinces were the most zealous at 
the outset of the revolt, but yielded to Spain 
before its close. 

In 1 58 1 was formed the Federal Commonwealth 
of the Seven United Provinces. In 1584 William 
the Silent was murdered at the instigation of Philip. 
His son Maurice continued the war. The truce 
of 1609, after Philip's death, was virtually the end 
of the conflict. The United Provinces, the territory 
of which corresponded very nearly to the present 
Kingdom of Holland, were the outcome of the 
revolt, after a long war between a very small State 
and a very large one, during which the Spanish 
forces were successively led by the Duke of Alva, 
Don John of Austria, Alexander Duke of Parma, 
and the Marquis of Spinola. During the seven- 
teenth century the United Provinces, whose full 
independence was not acknowledged by Spain till 
1648, with a small territory continually threatened 




WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 



AHOUND THE WOELD„ 367 

with inundation from great rivers and the sea, 
became one of the leading powers of Europe. The 
brave people, hardened and stimulated by a great 
and memorable conflict, established colonies all 
over the globe, built powerful navies, and traded 
in every sea. ♦ 

The southern provinces passed from the pos- 
session of Spain to the House of Austria. The 
United Provinces took the side of the Queen of 
Hungary in the war of the Austrian Succession. 
The French invaded the Dutch territory in 1747, 
when the republican constitution was changed and 
the Prince of Orange, William the Fourth, was 
made hereditary Stadholder. At the close of the 
eighteenth century the United Provinces had sunk 
from a great commercial power to an insignificant 
State, almost wholly under the control of Prussia. 

The French Revolution swept over the Nether- 
lands. The Seven United Provinces were trans- 
formed, in 1795, into the Batavian Republic, 
dependent on France, which had already absorbed 
the Austrian provinces of the Netherlands. In 
1806 Napoleon made a kingdom, for his brother 
Louis, of the Batavian Republic, In 18 10 Napoleon 
removed his brother and united all the Netherlands 
to France. After the downfall of Napoleon, the 
Congress of Vienna established the Kingdom of 
the Netherlands, comprising Holland and Belgium, 
in order to guard the frontier of France on that 
side with a strong power. 

The Dutch and Belgians were not homogeneous. 



368 A WINDINa JOURNEY 

They spoke different tongues. The Dutch were 
bigoted Calvinists. The Belgians were equally 
bigoted Catholics. Their commercial interests were 
not the same. Their manners and customs were 
different. The Belgians desired union with France 
rather than with Holland. The Walloon portion 
of the population, being of Gallic origin, could 
not affiliate with the Teutonic people of the 
United Provinces. The Belgians complained that, 
under the union enforced by the Congress of 
Vienna, a large part of the enormous debt of 
Holland was imposed upon them. They were 
opposed to the payment of heavy taxes for the 
maintenance of Dutch dykes, for the construction 
of Dutch ships, and for other objects foreign to 
their interests. The throne of the united countries 
was given to the Dutch House of Orange, and 
the capital was established in Holland. King 
William I. treated the Belgians as a conquered 
people. The government was so conducted that 
the Dutch had a good deal more than their share 
in both the civil and military service. 

The revolution in France, by which the absolute 
King Charles X. was dethroned, had its first echo 
in the Netherlands. Belgium separated from Hol- 
land in 1830. It is not necessary to recount the 
incidents of this revolt. A conference of ministers 
of the great powers, consisting of Talleyrand, 
Prince Esterhazy, Lord Aberdeen, Von Bulow, and 
Count Mutusszewitsch, was opened at London, 
on the fourth of November, and on the twentieth 



AROUND THE WORLD. 369 

acknowledged the Independence of Belgium. Russia 
objected at the outset and was Inclined to support 
King William. England took the lead on the 
opposite side. The Conference gave to Holland 
the boundaries of 1790, with the Duchy of Luxem- 
bourg. Thus the first blow was struck at the 
principle of the Holy Alliance. Even absolute 
Russia acknowledged that peoples have rights 
which sovereigns are bound to respect. The work 
of the Congress of Vienna was undone and a 
new era dawned upon Europe. Belgium, with the 
concurrence of the great powers, led off on 
the continent in the direction of constitutional 
government. 



370 A WINDING JOURNEY 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. 



^N his pride, insolence, and consciousness of 
c^ absolute power, Louis XIV. made the memor- 
<- able declaration : "I am the State." More 
than a century afterwards, the French people 
virtually responded, in the midst of the carnage 
and tumultuous uproar of the Revolution : " We 
are the State." 

How France grew by a long process of accretion, 
by incorporation of contiguous territory, to be the 
great monarchy of Louis XIV., how it ripened 
into more and more rottenness till Louis XVI. was 
beheaded, how the French people have wrestled 
with the methods of practical government from 
the outbreak of the Revolution to our day, are 
problems involving the whole history of one of 
the foremost nations of modern times. Of this 
history only such outlines can be given as will 
make clear the further problem of how the present 
French Republic is likely to maintain itself in the 
probable or possible conflicts of the future. The 
dangers of the Republic are mainly internal, but 
the awakened nationalities of Europe also threaten 
it, either singly or in combination, from without. 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 371 

My especial object of making an outline por- 
traiture of France as it exists to-day, and of 
forecasting its future, may be more directly and 
briefly reached by setting forth at the outset the 
vital principle of the national existence. The 
geometrical method of first stating a proposition 
and then proving it, may not be so well adapted 
to historical discussion as the less dogmatical method 
of logical deduction, yet it is sometimes convenient. 

When we seek the inner life of the French 
nation, we must be careful not to confound the 
French people with the various dynasties that have 
ruled the country; with the Karlingian monarchs, 
with the House of Valois, the Bourbons, the 
Napoleons ; or, with the various forms of govern- 
ment. If we were asked to name some represen- 
tative of the organic people, we should not take 
Charlemagne, who was a Frank and not a Gaul, 
nor Montaigne, nor Joan of Arc, nor Chancelor 
D'Aguesseau, nor Descartes, nor Louis IV., nor Pas- 
cal, nor Moliere, nor Fenelon, nor Voltaire, although 
each of these represents some phase of the national 
life. France has had no completely representative 
man. The national spirit, the inner principle of her 
existence, was born of an abstraction of the Roman 
lawyers and of a Gallic sentiment. It must not be 
forgotten that the French have sprung from the 
Gauls, who sent out a colony to Italy 600 years 
before Christ. The French, during their whole 
history, have had a sentiment of approbativeness 
which lies at the root of that indefinable something 



372 A WINDING JOURNEY 

which they designate as national "glory." When- 
ever a Frenchman does anything, whether he writes 
the history of his country or an epic poem, con- 
structs a fort or conducts a campaign, builds the 
Louvre or paints a landscape, he imagines that the 
universe is looking on, and not only does his best, 
but does it with dramatic display. This is the 
feminine side of the national genius, giving alertness, 
quickness of perception, amiability, diplomatic skill, 
versatility, fickleness, grace, nimbleness of tongue, 
in short, that taste which makes the French the 
inevitable leaders in the world of fashion. This 
sentiment lies at the root of the national conceit, 
leading the French to underrate all other peoples 
and to look for the highest excellence only at 
home. 

But there is another and more important side 
to the principle of the French national life. The 
Roman lawyers borrowed from the speculations of 
the later Greeks the notion of a law of nature, 
and engrafted it on to their own earlier and despised 
jus gentium, not the law of nations, as it has been 
misinterpreted, but the law regulating the business 
relations between Roman citizens and foreigners 
settled at Rome. The transformation of the jus 
gentium by the speculative Greek law of nature, 
led the Roman jurisconsults of the Antonlne era 
to declare that omnes homines natura cequales sunt — 
"all men by nature are equal." This magnificent 
declaration was seized upon by the early French 
jurists. Old Louis Hutin began the preamble to 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 373 

the celebrated ordinance enfranchising the serfs 
of the royal domains, in these memorable words: 
"Whereas, according to nature, everybody ought 
to be born free," etc. Whoever reads D'Aguesseau 
and L'Hospital will find that the idea of legal 
equality lies at the heart of French juridical science. 
Turgot expressed the idea with French neatness, 
when he declared that "all men are equal before 
the law." 

This declaration of Turgot, borrowed in sub- 
stance from the Roman jurisprudence, was repeated 
by Mr. Sumner a thousand times in the United 
States Senate, until he came to believe it to be 
his own. It requires but little acquaintance with 
the writings of Jefferson to find that he imbibed 
the same idea, directly or indirectly, from the 
French jurists. 

This idea spread from the jurists to literature, 
and from literature to the French people. It was 
the leavening power of possible political equality 
that roused the masses against a tyrannical throne 
and debased aristocracy, and astonished the world 
with a revolution which has had no parallel in 
ancient or modern times. The formative spirit of 
the French people, born of the sentiment of 
national "glory," modified by the idea of legal 
equality, has placed France among the foremost 
modern nations. Her prose literature is unsur- 
passed. Her poetic literature is scarcely inferior 
to that of Greece, Germany, Italy, or England. 
Her speculative science is second only to that of 



374 A "WINDING JOURNEY 

Greece or Germany. In physical science and the 
mathematics France has led the modern world. No 
nation has surpassed her in bravery and the art of 
war. But her abstract equality is not liberty, and 
it remains to be seen whether she has really entered 
upon a career of higher and better civilization. 

The Duchy of France, in the tenth century, 
was the most powerful State of Gaul north of the 
Loire. In 987 Hugh Capet, Louis V., Duke of 
France, was chosen king. He was the first French 
King, and that was the small beginning of the 
modern Kingdom of France. The capital was Paris. 
Normandy lay to the North, a duke of which was 
William the Conqueror. Thus the King of England 
was at the same time a vassal, as Duke of Normandy, 
of the King of France. By marriage, Aquitaine 
was also added to the English crown, in the twelfth 
century. In that way the French King was shut 
in at Paris by large English possessions in the 
north and west of Gaul. Herein we find the root 
of the long rivalry and conflict between the French 
and English monarchs. The princes in different 
parts of Gaul held fiefs of the King of France 
and were nominally his vassals, but he possessed 
very little power over them. The kings of the 
French, however, were cunning in their generation, 
and continued, by craft as well as force, to get 
possession, by degrees, of the dominions of their 
vassals, and of much territory besides. Philip 
Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur-de-Lion of 
England, crusaded together at the beginning of 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 375 

the thirteenth century, but in 12 14 Philip won the 
battle of Bouvines over the English and the forces 
of the Emperor Otto, which in a great measure 
ended the rule of the English in Gaul. Then 
followed the persecution of the Albigenees, which 
ended in the acquisition of Toulouse by the French. 
While Germany and Italy were becoming .mere 
aggregates of separate states, France was consoli- 
dating herself and became the leading power in 
Gaul. England, too, was pursuing the policy of 
consolidation. Edward III., son of Isabel, daughter 
of Philip the fair, laid claim to the crown of France. 
The French did not accept the inheritance through 
the female line. There followed the Hundred Years' 
War between the French and English. France was 
reduced to sore straits, losing at intervals the famous 
battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. The 
English also took Calais. But the Maid of Orleans, 
Joan of Arc, roused France, gave her new courage, 
and procured the coronation of Charles VII., at 
Rheims, in 1429. The English were driven out of 
Aquitaine, and both Bordeaux and Bayonne were 
added to the kingdom. The English kept nothing 
but Calais. It is curious that the English sovereigns, 
notwithstanding the disastrous ending of the long 
war, retained the title of Kings of France till the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. France, before 
the close of the fifteenth century, won from Bur- 
gundy Provence, Lyons, and the Dauphiny of 
Vienne. Wars with the turbulent Flemish cities 
gave the French kings influence in that quarter. 



376 A WINDING JOUENEY 

After the battle of Nancy, in 1477, France got the 
Duchy of Burgundy. At the close of the fifteenth 
century and at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, the French overran Italy and carried on 
war there with Spain, but made no permanent 
acquisitions. In the latter half of the sixteenth 
century, France was distracted with civil religious 
wars at home. Francis II., Charles IX., and 
Henry III., all sons of Catharine di'Medici, made 
war on the Huguenots. The Massacre of Saint 
Bartholomew is one of the bloodiest pages in all 
human history. France undertook, under the influ- 
ence of Catharine, to sharpen her wits by knocking 
out her own brains, and to strengthen her virtue 
by cutting out her own heart. The nation has 
never recovered from the loss of its best citizens 
by massacre. and banishment. Henry of Bourbon, 
King of Navarre, who had been a leader of the 
Protestants, became heir to the throne by failure 
of heirs in the male line, and turned Catholic in 
order to obtain it. He was crowned Kine of 
France and Navarre, and brought an accession of 
territory. Louis XIV. came to the throne in 1643 
and reigned till 1715. In him the power of France 
culminated. On the death of Cardinal Mazarin, 
in 1 66 1, he ruled as an absolute monarch. He 
made conquests on the Rhine and in the Nether- 
lands. All Europe feared a universal monarchy 
under him, and leagues were formed against him. 
Like Francis I., he allied himself with the Turks 
against Christians. While persecuting Protestants 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 377 

at home, he helped them in Hungary against the 
CathoHc Emperor. He revoked the Edict of Nantes 
and drove the most skilled artizans of his kingdom 
into exile. Other nations have flourished by the 
industry of the Huguenots, while France was 
impoverished by their loss. The Three Estates 
were never called together by him. Louis XIV. 
ruled as an absolute monarch, and sowed the seeds 
of disaster to France by making himself the State. 
Thus we have traced in outline the growth of 
France to the culmination of her power. Louis XV., 
the grandson of Louis XIV., reigned till 1774. He 
gave himself up to pleasure and practiced total 
depravity. He kept the kingdom together, and 
even continued to make some acquisitions of ter- 
ritory. The people, with no rights that the monarch 
was bound to respect, were suffering in silence 
and toiling to supply the means for maintaining 
the sumptuous splendor and debauchery of the 
Court. Louis XVI., the grandson of Louis XV., 
began to reign in 1774. He was a well-meaning 
man, but he inherited the sins of his predecessors. 
A new era was dawning upon the world. The 
awakening of the Reformation and the period of 
Discovery had introduced a new leaven into the 
minds of men, and the War of Independence in 
America soon found an echo in the French Revo- 
lution. In 1789, the very year when the Constitution 
of the United States was adopted, Louis XVI. 
called together the States General, which his pre- 
decessors had ignored since 1614. The National 



378 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Assembly, a new Constitution, the abolition of the 
Monarchy, the National Convention, the Republic, 
the beheading of the King, the Reign of Terror, 
Robespierre, the Directory, the Wars of the French 
Revolution, Napoleon Buonaparte, the Consulship, 
the Empire, succeeded each other with bewildering 
rapidity. 

The people of France were saying: "We are 
the State." In their inexperience of rule they 
committed many excesses and made many mistakes. 
European monarchs combined against them, and 
they committed their power to the hands of a 
successful general. Napoleon, with his brilliant 
victories, dazzled their imagination, took advantage 
of their confidence, and soon made himself a ruler 
more despotic than Louis XIV. His rapid con- 
quests in various parts of Europe satisfied the 
national vanity and fed the voracious French 
appetite for glory. After the downfall of Napoleon, 
the powers of Europe, overwhelming in their 
combination, imposed a legitimate king upon the 
people of France. It was deemed prudent that 
Louis XVIII. should reign as a constitutional 
monarch, and the people, exhausted by the Napo- 
leonic wars, kept quiet. The nobles, however, were 
hungering for the old order of things. The brother 
of Louis and his successor, Charles X., a natural 
despot, forgot the Revolution and practically under- 
took to repeat the saying of Louis XIV. : " I am 
the State." The people of France soon taught 
him in the July revolution of 1830, that they were 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 379 

the State. His cousin, Louis Philippe, Duke of 
Orleans, ascended the throne, and the people 
repeated the lesson on him in 1848. A republic 
followed, but the people, not yet seasoned in the 
practical work of governing, chose Louis Napoleon 
Buonaparte president, who bore a name yet potent 
to conjure with. He perjured himself by swearing 
to be faithful to the new republic. In December, 
1 85 1, at the end of the third year, he followed the 
example of his uncle and seized the government. 
He proclaimed himself president for ten years, 
and with the aid of the army, dissolved the National 
Assembly, which voted to depose him, imprisoning, 
banishing, murdering his opponents. A year later 
he proclaimed himself Emperor. He ruled with 
prudence and ability, and the people, contented to 
prosper, tired of confusion, acquiesced in his 
usurpation. When his career ended at Sedan, the 
French people again resumed power and set up 
another republic, which has lasted some years to 
the present day. In the unfortunate war with 
Germany, the French lost treasure, men, lands, 
and prestige. Fortunately they also lost their 
emperor, who ascended the throne by usurpation 
and crime, and left it with defeat and disgrace. 

Last year I traversed France twice and remained 
a week at Paris. Everywhere I found the people 
sour, less polite than usual, conscious of a great 
defeat, thirsting for revenge. The capital had. grown 
in all directions, had been adorned with new buildings, 
new avenues, and new boulevards. It seemed as 



380 A "WINDING JOURNEY 

gay and animated as ever in all the quarters 
frequented by strangers, but in the quarters exclu- 
sively French there was a strange air of sadness. 
Faces were sober and thoughtful. Calamity seemed 
to have befallen the people, and they appeared like 
those who are uncertain of the future. In the 
country and towns outside of Paris the change 
was still more striking. 

There are many reasons why the French should 
cease to study revenge. It was not their fault that 
they were forced into a great war unprepared. All 
the world gives them credit for fighting bravely 
against terrible odds. The nation was betrayed 
from within. If they attack the Germans again, 
new calamities are almost sure to follow. 

The population of France is 36,000,000; that 
of Germany is 48,000,000. The ratio is three to 
four. Other things being equal, it is certain that 
three men cannot whip four. There can be no 
rational expectation that, in the future, Germany 
will be divided into hostile camps. Louis Napoleon, 
perhaps, had good reason to believe that Bavaria 
and other States would not unite with Prussia in 
a war of defense. He might have expected that 
Austria, forgetting the war in Italy, would take 
advantage of the situation to avenge the crushing 
defeat of Koniggratz. His disappointment may 
be regarded as one of the misfortunes of war. The 
French, however, if they are foolish enough to 
attack the Germans, cannot hope to find any 
neutrality, still less any help, among the Teutons 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 381 

over the Rhine. In that case, they must expect 
to encounter the furor Teutonicus of a consoHdated 
Germanic people. If they are prudent, they will 
not risk an encounter of three to four, and will 
peaceably bear the loss of territory that Frenchmen 
of former generations seized on the Rhine. France 
is not in a condition to bear a second conquest. 
The new German Empire is a different thing from 
the loose confederation of many small States, with 
rival interests, with mutual jealousies, with power 
of separate alliances, with Austria and Prussia 
contending for the mastery. A powerful nation, 
roused to active, centralized, organic life by the 
Napoleonic wars, confronts France, and she will 
act wisely to keep what she has and not wantonly 
furnish the occasion of losing more. 

Other things being equal, armies are efficient 
in proportion to their intelligence. It is a lamentable 
fact that fully one-third of the people of France 
cannot read and write. It may be reasonably sup- 
posed that illiteracy in the French army exists in 
the same ratio. On the other hand, every German 
soldier is educated. All Germans, throughout the 
empire, can read and write. Intelligence is a 
favoring condition of efficient activity, on the battle- 
field as elsewhere. It is a curious fact that every 
German soldier, in the Franco-Prussian war had 
an accurate map in his pocket and knew the roads 
of the country through which he was marching, 
quite as well as the officers, and much better 
than the rank and file, of the opposing army» 



382 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Both intelligence and numbers are against the 
French. 

The German soldier is at least the equal of the 
French soldier in martial training and powers of 
endurance. Good military judges think he is 
superior. The French perhaps excel in sudden 
onslaught, but they are inferior to the Germans in 
staying qualities. In courage they may be regarded 
as equal. In coolness and precision of action, the 
Teuton is superior to the Gaul. French armies 
certainly have no personal qualities to overcome 
inferiority in numbers and intelligence. 

The arms of the two peoples are probably equal. 
Accuracy and range of weapons used by the French 
and German armies do not materially differ. The 
French certainly can claim no superiority in that 
respect to make up for inferiority in other respects. 

In military training and genius for war the 
Germans are not inferior to their neighbors on 
the other side of the Rhine. French officers are 
well educated, but in the French armies there is a 
lack of that training necessary to enable inferior 
grades to take the place of superior grades in the 
possible exigencies of battle. A German colonel 
is qualified to take the place of a wounded or killed 
general ; a captain is trained to take immediate 
command of a regiment ; and every soldier is fitted 
to take the place of a fallen officer in his company. 
As Bismarck said in his great speech, no country 
has so large a corps of well-trained officers as 
Germany. This gives a nation a great advantage 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 383 

in war. France would do well to heed the fact. 
Courage, patriotism, and vivacity cannot take the 
place of science and discipline, as the improvised 
French armies in the war with Germany sadly 
demonstrated. 

In another respect, Germany is superior. She 
has a small national debt, as compared with France. 
Her resources from the soil are equal. The pro- 
ductive energy of her more numerous population 
is greater. In a prolonged struggle, Germany 
would have the advantage in numbers of men and 
officers trained to arms, in education, and in material 
resources. 

Germany is not likely to become the aggressor. 
The two countries are about equal in extent of 
territory. France, in making attack, would have 
to operate on longer lines. Germany, if circum- 
stances made it prudent to act on the defensive, 
would occupy inner lines, nearer to supplies. It is 
a notorious fact that Germany has a more extensive 
and better regulated system of railways, for the 
rapid concentration of armies, than France has. 
This would give her another and very important 
advantage in case of conflict. 

It is true that France has a much more powerful 
navy. But the navy would be of no use in a life 
and death struggle with her antagonist, as the last 
war fully demonstrated. No coast in the world is 
easier to defend than the German shore on the 
Baltic. 

The chances of France to find allies remain to 



384 A WINDING JOUENET 

be considered. It is quite evident that she has 
for some time been making overtures to Russia. 
That great power hates Germany.^ But she fears 
the instabihty of France, and dreads alHance with 
a nation of advanced poHtical ideas. Besides, 
France would ahenate all other continental powers 
by combination with Russia. Austria has a dan- 
gerous Slav population of twenty millions and must 
perpetually guard her frontier against the Muscovite. 
This drives her into alliance with Germany. Turkey 
must combine with the enemies of Russia. France, 
as the ally of Russia, can find no help in that 
quarter, as Louis XIV. did. England must protect 
India, and will doubtless continue to play her role 
of defender of Constantinople. Hence, if she 
allies herself . in any direction, it will not be with 
Russia and France. Italy, smarting under the loss 
of the hereditary dominion of her king, alienated 
by new indignities, hoping for acquisitions in the 
Trentine and on the north-eastern shore of the 
Adriatic, where the people are Italian by blood and 
speech, at once consults her interest and gratifies 
her revenge, by seeking alliance with the powerful 
Teutonic peoples against France and Russia. So, 
on the score of allies, the preponderance is against 
France and greatly in favor of Germany. 

In my judgment, France would do well to dis- 
band two-fifths of her army, and to devote part of 
the money thus saved to perfect the organization 

1. The above was written before the death of Frederick II. Since the accession 
of the new Emperor, there seems to be indications of alliance between Germany and 
Russia. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 385 

and equipment of the remaining three-fifths for 
defensive purposes, and another part to estabHsh 
a national system of education as complete and 
universal as that of Germany. A generation would 
then grow up demanding a higher literature and a 
nobler public life. The rural population of France 
is more ethical, purer in morals, than that of the 
capital. Much of the current French literature, 
read mostly in Paris and other large cities, is 
addressed to the animal instincts of man and not 
to his spiritual nature. The society of Paris is not 
so totally depraved as a stranger might be led to 
suppose. French domestic life, which few travelers 
have opportunities of observing, is much purer than 
is generally believed. Multitudes of adventurers 
find their way to Paris, who mistake the depravity 
of one another for the depravity of the French; 
Realistic literature, addressed to human bodies 
instead of human souls, that is naked and not 
ashamed, Is not sold and read in the domestic 
circles of France. Universal education would create 
a larger demand for such journals as the "Temps" 
and the " Republique Francaise," and for the 
writings of such men as M. Taine, M. Clemenceau, 
M. Claretie, M. Sarcey, and others, whose pens 
are clean as well as sharp. Thus would grow up 
a majority, more intelligent, more ethical, to guide 
the French Republic in the direction of true national 
aggrandizement, and rescue it from the downward 
road trod by Rome before the advent of the Caesars. 
France is capable of great things, but her escape 

2S 



386 A WINDING JOURNEY 

from national decay and disintegration does not lie 
in the direction of a war of revenge against 
Germany. Popular government demands a more 
exalted public virtue than absolutism. A severer 
blow to France was the slaughter and banishment 
of the Huguenots — a wicked waste of her best 
blood and brain and heart — than all the defeats 
that she ever suffered on the field of battle, and 
more to be dreaded is the education of her people 
in sensual literature than another siege of Paris. 
It depends upon herself whether she shall escape 
both. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 387 



CHAPTER XV 

SWITZERLAND. 

ET has been said that Switzerland is the play- 
ground of Europe. Tens of thousands go 
•> there every summer to view the scenery. The 
educational influence of the Alps is very great. 
The lofty mountains nourish a sentiment of sub- 
limity in all beholders, that ennobles the mind and 
gives an exalted pleasure. Travelers in Switzerland 
return with souls enriched and characters refined. 
It is good for any one to commune with Nature in 
her loftiest mood. 

" Our converse was with heaven alone — 
With voices through the clouds that sung, 
And brooding storms that round us hung." 

But very few who visit the Alps pay much 
attention to the history, government, and institu- 
tions of Switzerland. The people that dwell in 
that land have occupied the attention of the world 
for several centuries, and have an especial interest 
for Americans. The mountain valleys of the Alps 
are the home of freedom in Europe. The Swiss 
can teach mankind a rational liberty, while the 
Alps are giving wings to the imagination. The 
inhabitants inherit a choice portion of the earth, 



388 A •WINDING JOURNEY 

which they have made the dwelling-place of inde- 
pendence. It is worth while to learn the lesson 
taught by a brave and intelligent people, while 
we are cultivating a "sense sublime" among the 
rocky spires that pierce the heavens. 

I went from Paris to Geneva and traversed 
Switzerland, in a winding course, to the Rhine. 
On my swift journey, I read the history of the 
country, while renewing acquaintance with scenes 
long ago familiar. 

In the middle ages, German Leagues were 
formed in the midst of the Holy Roman Empire, 
for the purpose of securing a protection from 
aggressors, which the weak central government could 
not give. One of these was the League of the 
Swiss Cantons. The cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and 
Unterwalden, three small districts among the lofty 
mountains on the borders of Italy, Burgundy, and 
Germany, banded together, in 1291, for mutual 
defense against the Dukes of Austria, who owned 
estates in their midst. About a quarter of a century 
after the formation of the league, November 15, 
13 15, was fought the memorable battle between its 
members and the Austrians, at Morgarten, in the 
Canton of Zug, on the banks of Lake Egeri. The 
Austrian army, under command of Duke Leopold, 
brother of the emperor, numbered 15,000 men. 
The little army of the Confederates amounted to 
only 1,400. The Swiss held the narrow pass between 
Morgarten Hill and the lake, and also had command 
of the adjoining heights. The Swiss forces were 



AROUND THE WOULD. 389 

divided between the impending rocks above and 
the narrow pass below. When the Austrians had 
entered the winding defile, those on the heights 
rolled down huge masses of stone, which crushed 
vast numbers of the Austrians and threw their 
cavalry into confusion. The part of the Swiss 
forces stationed in the pass then fell upon the 
enemy. The rout was complete. Few escaped to 
tell the bloody tale. This was the "awful dawn" 
of a nation, and a solemn warning to Europe to 
let the brave mountaineers alone. 

Luzern, Zurich, Berne, Zug, and Glarus, soon 
afterwards, joined the alliance, increasing the league 
to eight cantons. Thus was formed the Old League 
of High Germany. The Eidgenossen, or Con- 
federates, as they called themselves in the fourteenth 
century, were still members of the empire. The 
league was feared by the neighboring nobles, but 
was favored by most of the emperors, except those 
of the House of Austria. The Confederates, how- 
ever, had to fight, from time to time, for their 
existence. July 9, 1386, they encountered another 
Duke Leopold of Austria and a confederacy of 
nobles, at Sempach, a little town nine miles north- 
west of Luzern. The Swiss numbered 1,300. 
Leopold's army consisted of 4,000 horse and 1,400 
foot. The knights, finding the ground unfitted for 
the evolution of cavalry, dismounted and formed 
themselves into a compact body, presenting a mass 
of spears to the mountaineers, whom they out- 
numbered more than four to one. The Swiss 



390 A WINDING JOUKNEY 

attacked without hesitation, but made no impression 
on the soHd wall of steel. They lost their leader 
and sixty men, in the first onslaught. Then 
Arnold von Winkelried, the bravest of the brave, 
a hero surpassed by none in ancient or modern 
times, rushed forward, gathered into his devoted 
body the points of as many spears as he could 
reach, and thus made a breach for the brave Swiss 
to enter. The tide of battle turned immediately. 
The victory was swift and complete. Two thousand 
Austrians were slain, including 600 knights, counts, 
and barons. The Swiss lost but 200. The body 
of Duke Leopold was found the next day under 
a heap of the slain. The celebration of the 
anniversary of this battle, by the grateful Swiss 
people, with thanksgiving and prayer, is a scene 
of moral sublimity equal in grandeur to the sub 
limity of nature in a sunrise viewed from the 
Rhigi. 

The Swiss had to defend their freedom again, 
when they were attacked by the Dauphin, afterwards 
Louis XL, of France, in 1444. They also had 
some civil wars among themselves, and acquired 
towns and lands by conquest or purchase, the 
inhabitants of which became their subjects. They 
were not yet entirely independent of the empire, 
to which they belonged. They formed alliances, 
but were slow to admit new Cantons into their 
Confederacy. It was still the Old League of High 
Germany. The people only gradually took the 
name of Swiss, and the country that of Switzerland, 



AROUND THE WOULD. 391 

from Schwyz, one of the three eariiest members 
of the body. But near the close of the fifteenth, 
and in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they 
admitted Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen, 
and Appenzell, as new Cantons. These, with the 
eight previous ones, constituted the Thirteen Can- 
tons, all German, which lasted till the close of 
the last century. . 

Near the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
the Swiss began to acquire territory from Italy and 
the Kingdom of Burgundy. Thus was gradually 
added a Latin, or Romance element to the original 
German stock. But it is not necessary to go into 
the history of Switzerland in much detail for my 
present purpose. 

The Swiss had a Reformation of their own. 
Ulrich Zwingli preached the new doctrines at 
Zurich first in 15 19. He went further than Luther. 
Zurich, Bern, and several other cantons broke away 
from the Catholic Church, under his teaching. 
Other cantons adhered to their old faith, and a civil 
war broke out, as in other European countries. 
Zwingli was killed in battle, in 1531. William 
Farel preached Protestantism in Geneva, which 
was a free city. The Dukes of Savoy, who had 
coveted Geneva, then concluded that they had 
cause to make war upon the free city and to 
make an effort to capture it. But Geneva was 
in alliance with some of the Swiss Cantons, 
especially Berne, and from them received help 
when besieged. The Duke of Savoy, instead of 



392 A WINDING JOUE.NEY 

capturing the city, lost his own lands, both to the 
north and to the south of Lake Geneva. John 
Calvin then came to Geneva and ruled it, as a 
little theocratic state, with marvelous ability. And 
some of the members of the Swiss Confederation 
got hold of the Bishopric of Lausanne, and other 
lands, whose inhabitants spoke the Romance tongue, 
that afterwards became new cantons. By the Peace 
of Westphalia, at the close of the terrible religious 
wars of central and western Europe, the Swiss 
Confederates were acknowledged to be entirely 
independent of the empire, at the same time with 
the United Provinces of the Netherlands. 

In 1798 revolutionary France needed money 
and went to Berne, in its rapacious way, to plunder 
its well-filled treasury. They freed the people of 
Vaud, a Romance-speaking people, from the dominion 
of Berne, and established the Helvetic Republic, 
which embraced some of the Swiss Cantons as 
well as their subjects and allies on the west, near 
the borders of France. The new republic did not 
suit the independent Swiss; so Napoleon, in 1803, 
by the Act of Mediation, as he called it, gave 
them a federal constitution. Under it were included 
the old cantons and several new ones. The twenty- 
two cantons forming the renewed Swiss Confedera- 
tion were united by a very lax tie and acted. very 
nearly independent of one another. 

In the general settlement of Europe, by the 
Congress of Vienna, in 18 15, Switzerland was 
left intact, but its constitution has since undergone 



AROUND THE WORLD. 393 

important changes. In 1831, political controversies 
led to greater popularization of the government 
of different cantons. In 1847, ^^^ Protestant and 
Catholic cantons engaged in a civil religious war.- 
The Protestants were the victors. A new federal 
constitution, fashioned after that of the United 
States, was adopted in 1848. Instead of a presi- 
dent, however, it provides for a Federal Executive 
Council of Seven. This constitution again under- 
went changes in 1874. 

The Cantons have separate systems of local 
government, like the States in our country. In 
Uri, Appenzell, Glarus, and the Unterwaldens, all 
laws are enacted by a general assembly of the 
people. They are democracies, pure and simple. 
In the Grissons and Vallais, all laws enacted by 
the representative assemblies, must be approved by 
a vote of the people, before they take effect. In 
the rest of the cantons the government is entrusted 
to representatives elected by universal suffrage. 
The primary assemblies of the people have the 
effect of educating them in public affairs and of 
developing political talent. 

By the new Constitution of 1874, to the Federal 
Assembly are committed control of the army, the 
regulation of foreign affairs, the management of 
the post-office and the police, and the settlement of 
disputes among the cantons. The Federal Assembly 
consists of a State Council {Stande RatJi), num- 
bering forty-four members, two from each canton ; ^ 
and a National Council {National Ratk), numbering 



394 A WINDING JOURNEY 

135 members, elected by the cantons in the pro- 
portion of one to 20,000 inhabitants. The Federal 
Assembly elects a Federal Council {Bundes RatJt) 
of seven, holding office for three years. The 
President of the Federal Council is chosen for the 
mere convenience of a presiding officer, and has 
no special authority. The Federal Assembly also 
elects a Federal Tribunal {Bundes Gerzckt) or 
Supreme Court, consisting of nine members. The 
tendency of the Swiss government is now towards 
centralization. How far the Federal Assembly can 
control the legislative action of the cantons is a 
subject of political controversy. 

Thus has grown up in central Europe, in the 
midst of the Alps, one of the freest countries in 
the world. The population of Switzerland now 
amounts to about 3,000,000. The love of freedom, 
and the exigencies of common defense, unite them 
in one national organization, in spite of diversities 
of speech and conflicting religions. There are 411 
Roman Catholics, 587 Protestants, and 2 Jews, 
in every 1,000 Swiss. In the same number, 702 
speak German, 226 French, 55 Italian, and 17 
Romansch. 

The Swiss have had no foreign war since the 
Congress of Vienna in 181 5. They are remarkably 
industrious and have a larger trade, according to 
their numbers, than any other people in Europe. 
They have no standing army, but military drill is 
taught in every school, and all citizens must serve 
as soldiers when called upon. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 395 

The Swiss are intelligent and have an excellent 
system of universal education. All children must 
be taught in a public or private school, from six 
to twelve. At Basel, Berne, and Zurich, there are 
good universities, on the German plan. At Geneva 
is one on the French plan. No country abounds 
more in societies for the cultivation of science, 
literature, and art. In the small republic there 
are forty daily newspapers. There are five hundred 
journals and reviews, one-half of which are political. 
The active intellectual life of the hardy mountaineers 
is phenomenal. 

In Switzerland, the identity of the State and 
the people, of the government and the nation, is 
complete, making the country as strong as numbers, 
resources, and the inevitable obstruction of diverging 
human opinions and individual ambitions will permit. 
Thoughtful Americans, traveling in the country for 
the enjoyment of its magnihcent scenery, will do 
well to pay some attention to its heroic history, and 
to its political, social, and educational institutions. 



396 A WINDING JOURNEY 



W 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 

fHEN I was at Brussels, I went to Waterloo 
and spent a day on the famous battle-field. 
.:. Climbing the great square monument of 
earth, built to commemorate an important event 
in human history, I looked down upon the scene 
where Napoleon fought his last battle, and endeav- 
ored to formulate to my own mind the cause of 
such a close to his brilliant career. I have no 
inclination to describe the battle of Waterloo, 
which has been described well a hundred times, 
or to narrate any of its incidents. My only object 
is to make use of it to elucidate a doctrine of 
nationalities which, throughout this book, I follow 
in portraying the leading peoples of the civilized 
world. 

We have seen that nations grow and are not 
made ; that, in other words, nations have an organic 
existence. A nation and its government may be 
in harmony, may be politically identical, or they 
may be radically different. When a nation out- 
grows its government, change may come gradually 
and peaceably, or it may come suddenly and 
violently, or both processes may be combined and 



AROUND THE WOIiLD. 397 

intermingled. At the close of the eighteenth 
century, France had outgrown its government. 
Neither the ambitious reign of Louis XIV., the 
foul reign of Louis XV., nor the feeble reign of 
Louis XVI., represented the people of France. 
The outbreak of the great Revolution was a 
declaration to the world that the monarch was 
no longer the State, still less the Nation. The 
people of France, unschooled in political methods, 
untaught in everything but obedience to authority, 
groped their way convulsively in the midst of 
darkness, or in the lurid light of conflagration, 
and only learned by a long series of costly mistakes 
and destructive calamities, to discriminate between 
political good and evil, and to build a State adapted 
to their needs and in harmony with their real interest. 
The other nations of western Europe were in 
a condition similar to that of France. The Spanish, 
Italian, and German peoples had outgrown their 
governments. When the French revolted against 
the tyranny of their Bourbon King, sympathy was 
awakened among the masses, far and wide. The 
divinity that doth hedge a king ceased to awe 
men when Louis XVI. was beheaded. Of course, 
the various monarchs of Europe combined against 
the French Revolution. The people of France, 
exulting In a new-found liberty, wished to extend 
their political treasure to other peoples. Other 
peoples, more or less slowly awakening, were eager 
to receive It, as fast as circumstances and prudence 
would permit. 



398 A WINDING JOURNEY 

France was seduced by the unequaled military 
genius of Napoleon. The sentiment of "glory," 
the weak side of the national character, was gratified 
with his brilliant victories. As long as he repre- 
sented, or seemed to represent, the French people, 
he was admired by the peoples of other countries. 
He extended the eastern boundary of France to 
the Rhine. He crushed the Spanish army and 
drove the Spanish King from his throne. He then 
became the idol of the Spanish people. The 
Italians believed in his star, and were proud to 
follow him to victory. The German princes of 
the smaller states of the moribund empire were 
not displeased to see him humble the haughty 
Austrian s and the despotic Prussians. 

When he ended the War of the Second Coalition 
with the battle of Marengo, he threw off the 
mask entirely, and, to borrow a word from the 
Greeks, made himself the Tyrant of France. The 
French submitted, because his successes on the 
field of" battle ministered to their vanity. France 
supplied him with men and means in his attempt 
to establish a great European monarchy. He ruled 
with a despotic sway more severe than that of 
Louis XIV. The Revolution against arbitrary 
power ended in a military dominion, before which 
the French people became helpless. 

When Napoleon parceled out wide regions of 
western and central Europe, not already annexed 
to his empire of France, to members of his own 
family, then the peoples that had worshiped him 



AROUND THE WORLD. 399 

as the great deliverer of the oppressed turned 
against him the resentment felt before for their 
hereditary rulers. By degrees he roused into 
activity the hatred that had been passive or latent. 
As long as he represented the cause of peoples 
against their despotic governments, he achieved 
great victories everywhere. When he substituted 
his single tyranny for many smaller tyrannies he 
began to lose power. As long as the nationalities 
were on his side, he steadily advanced towards 
dominion of all Europe. When he alienated the 
nationalities by selfish acts of despotism, he encoun- 
tered a power before which he finally fell. 

Strangely enough, Spain began the anti-Napo- 
leonic revolution. In vain he crushed the organized 
Spanish army. The people, who at first adored 
him, rose against him, in 1808, and struck the 
first blows of a conflict that ended in Waterloo. 
The English, at war with Napoleon from the 
first, directed the Spanish nation, in its popular 
uprising, with a few disciplined troops, with brave 
leaders and an able general. Not only did the 
revolt of the Spanish people divert a large portion 
of Napoleon's army from central Europe, but the 
contagion of their example infected other nations. 
Even the Germans began to feel the approaches 
of a new fever of patriotism that finally led them 
to drive their hesitating rulers into a great coalition 
of all Europe against the tyrant of France. 

The second great blow received by Napoleon 
was delivered by the people of Russia, after the 



400 A WINDINa JOURNEY 

battle of Borodino. The Russian people, a large 
part of whom were serfs, had never felt any 
sympathy with Napoleon. The French Revolution 
had not affected them, and they had not deified 
its deceptive leader. They were satisfied with their 
own government, which represented them according 
to their political light. They had no inclination 
to exchange the rule of their own Czar for that 
of the invader. Consequently the Russian nation- 
ality was quite as hostile to Napoleon as any other 
nationality of Europe. 

After the disastrous retreat from Moscow, the 
revolution against Napoleon became complete and 
active. All European nationalities were united for 
his overthrow. He had sown the teeth of the 
dragon and from them had sprung up a mighty 
harvest of armed men all over the continent. At 
Leipsig was fought the battle of the nations. 
Toiling, suffering, oppressed men had asked him 
for a fish and he had given them a serpent ; had 
prayed him for bread and he had given them a 
stone. On that fatal battle-field they took their 
revenge. The nationalities that Napoleon had 
been instrumental in quickening into more active 
life gave him his mortal blow after he had failed 
them. Instead of serving them, he had tried to 
make them serve him. 

After the battle of Leipsig the allies were 
willing to grant Napoleon terms of peace. They 
proposed to leave him sovereign of France, with 
boundaries nearly the same as those established by 



AROUND THE ■WORLD. 401 

Louis XIV. Napoleon rejected the offer. Perhaps 
he believed that he could retrieve his fallen fortunes. 
Certain it is that he did not comprehend the power 
of the European nationalities behind the royal 
leaders of the combined armies that had overthrown 
him. It may be that, with unequaled political 
sagacity, he could not trust himself to France. 
This, in my judgment, is the more probable 
hypothesis. At all events, he chose to con- 
tinue the unequal struggle. We must admire 
his heroism in defeat. The allies made a 
Bourbon (Louis XVIII.) ruler of France and sent 
Napoleon, with the empty title of Emperor, to 
Elba. 

Of course, the conqueror in so many battles, 
made his escape. The French army received him 
with open arms. The battle of Waterloo followed, 
as the desperate conflict of despair. If he had 
won the battle, he could not have made much 
headway against all Europe. 

Wellington has received superabundance of glory 
for his victory. The English have lauded him 
beyond measure for winning a battle that was 
only supplementary to that of Leipsig. Wellington, 
however, may be regarded as beginning a compre- 
hensive battle at Torres-Vedras, which ended at 
Waterloo. With patience, skill, and true general- 
ship, he led the uprising of the Spanish people, 
and struck the first effective blows against Napoleon. 
It was his fortune to strike the last as well as the 
first blow. As the victor in this comprehensive 
26 



402 A WINDING JOURNEY 

battle he merits all the glory that impartial history 
has bestowed upon him. 

The sovereigns of European nations arrogated 
to themselves all the credit for a victory that was 
really achieved by the peoples which they mis- 
governed. France was weary and exhausted, and 
accepted a king imposed upon her by the insolent 
Congress of Vienna. But the spirit of the French 
nationality, although slumbering, was not dead. 
When Charles X., the last King of France crowned 
at Rheims, the successor of Louis XVI 1 1., under- 
took to repeat the language of Louis XIV. : ** I 
am the State," the people promptly answered in 
the July Revolution: "We are the State." Every 
nationality in western Europe echoed the words. 
In the Revolution of 1848, France again showed 
that she was not dead. Europe responded with 
redoubled energy. The reactionary work of Met- 
ternich and Talleyrand was suddenly finished. The 
mills of the gods were grinding slowly, but exceed- 
ingly fine. The sovereigns of Europe took alarm 
and reluctantly granted constitutions to their peoples. 
They mournfully realized that they reigned only 
by permission of their subjects. 

France, still groping her way, dreaming of the 
incomplete glories of the great Revolution, allowed 
another Napoleon to repeat on a small scale the 
illustrious hero of Austerlitz and Jena. The 
inglorious defeat of Sedan brought the Second 
Empire to a close. The nationalities of Europe, 
nursed in the anti-Napoleonic revolution at the 



AROUND THE WORLD. 4,03 

beginning of the nineteenth century, were full- 
grown and asserted their ascendancy. The new 
German Empire, founded upon the will of the 
German people, is the noble fruit of a matured 
nationality. It is difficult to realize the full signifi- 
cance of United Italy, which has taken the place 
of a whole group of petty despotic States. A 
decade of republican government in France demon- 
strates that the nation has at length learned the 
difficult art of self-government. Everywhere in 
Europe, west of Turkey and Russia, peoples are 
either governing themselves or sharing the govern- 
ment with kings. The transition from the irrespon- 
sible rule of absolute monarchs is very great. The 
military despotism of Napoleon, overruled by the 
Providence of history, served to awaken nationalities 
and hasten the dawn of liberty regulated by law. 
The day of Waterloo not only sealed the fate of 
Napoleon, but also the fate of tyrants who had 
fought against him. 

" Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, 

Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay, 
The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife, 

The morn the marshalling in arms — the day 

Battle's magnificently stern array! 
The thunder clouds close o'er it, which when rent 

The earth is covered thick with other clay, 
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, 
Bider and horse— friend, foe — in one red burial blent!" 



404 A WINDING JOURNEY 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RECENT PROGRESS IN ENGLAND. 

^ ARRIVED in London on the twentieth of August, 
Jfe) and had ten days in which to make preparations 
for a voyage to AustraHa and New Zealand, 
on the other side of the globe. The rush of the 
Victorian jubilee was over, yet many people from 
the colonies lingered in the metropolis, who had 
chosen the time to visit their native land. 

Previous to Queen Victoria, the long history 
of England furnishes only three examples of 
sovereigns who have reigned half a century. 
Henry III. witnessed the struggle carried on by 
Simon de Montfort to give vitality to the con- 
cessions of the Great Charter. Edward III. saw 
the dawn of English literature and the fusion that 
really created the English people. George III. 
witnessed the expansion of English commerce, the 
development of industry caused by the inventions 
that laid the foundations of woolen and cotton 
manufactures, the application of steam to machinery 
of various kinds, the acquisition by war of colonies 
all over the globe which other nations had founded, 
the loss forever to the British crown of the United 
States; and the dawn of the press as an independent 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 405 

power in the realm. The reign of Victoria has 
been more eventful than the reign of the Third 
Henry, the reign of the Third Edward, or the 
reign of the Third George. 

I observed expansion in every direction since 
my first visit to England more than thirty years 
ago. In many things the advancement has been 
common to England and the rest of the civilized 
world. England has also had her individual advance- 
ment, especially in legislation, the salient features 
of which may be briefly noticed here. 

The English nation suffered a collapse after 
the long strain of the Napoleonic wars. The 
battle of Waterloo gave a mortal blow to a large 
and profitable British trade to the Continent. 
England, for nearly a quarter of a century, was 
the only country in Europe whose industries were 
not interrupted by the movements of armies. After 
the naval battle of Trafalgar, English ships alone 
held possession of the sea till the downfall of 
Napoleon. After the settlement made by the 
Congress of Vienna, continental nations began to 
manufacture for themselves and were too exhausted 
to purchase British goods. Consequently the indus- 
trial populations of English manufacturing towns, 
having nothing to do, were reduced to poverty. The 
political abuses, growing out of a period of excite- 
ment and war, and emphasized by widespread want, 
continued, in spite of the legislative efforts of Pitt, 
far into the reign of Victoria. The Continent 
suffered during the Napoleonic era; England suf- 



406 A WINDING JOURNEY 

fered after its close. The cry of the people for 
bread rudely admonished British statesmen to recon- 
struct the industrial system of the country, so far 
as it could be reconstructed by legislation. The 
process of reconstruction, aided by the natural 
progress of the people and the unprecedented 
development of inventions, has continued to the 
present day. 

The application of scientific discoveries to prac- 
tical ends, the expansion of the railroad system, 
the cheapening of postage, the establishment of 
the telegraph and the telephone, with all their 
economic, intellectual, social, and moral results, 
are not peculiar to England, but belong in common 
to the civilized nations of the earth. By such 
instrumentalities the English people have advanced 
with marvelous rapidity during the last thirty or 
forty years, but other peoples have advanced with 
equal pace. 

Great Britain, however, may claim greater pro- 
gress than other nations in the construction of 
ocean steamships. Navigation companies on the 
Continent send to the Clyde for their best and 
swiftest vessels. England, therefore, maintains her 
advantage in the carrying trade of the world and 
her supremacy on the sea. It is a curious fact 
that four-fifths of the traffic of the Suez Canal is 
supplied by British ships. 

Whether the great recent expansion of England 
in wealth and population has been entirely due to 
the skilled and energetic application of steam and 



AROUND THE WORLD. 407 

improved machinery to her cotton, woolen, and 
iron Industries, or whether principles of free trade^ 
boldly adopted and vigorously applied, must be 
reckoned as an important factor in the national 
growth, are economic questions not likely to be 
definitely settled for a long time to come. America 
with a protective system, and England with a free 
trade system, have advanced with equal rapidity 
in material prosperity. The established natural 
law, exemplified in all history, that population 
breeds up to the level of food supply, manifests 
itself alike on both sides of the ocean. It makes 
no difference whether food comes from agricultural 
industry, or is purchased in exchange for manu- 
factured goods. The converse of the general 
proposition is equally true. The failure of the 
potato In Ireland, In 1846, without the estab- 
lishment of compensating manufacturing Industry, 
has reduced its population, by emigration and 
otherwise, from more than eight millions to less 
than five millions. Notwithstanding the decrease 
of population in Ireland, the general Increase of 
population In the United Kingdom, within the 
past thirty or forty years has been enormous. 

When I was first in England, In 1853, the 
excitement growing out of the Corn Importation 
Act of 1846 had not yet entirely subsided. Pessi- 
mists, of the Tory stamp, were sure that the 
doctrines of Adam Smith and Bentham had ruined 
England. The names of Charles Villlers, Richard 
Cobden, Ebenezer Elliott, and John Bright were 



408 A WINDING JOURNEY 

on every tongue. The new theories of John Stuart 
Mill were looked upon as the invention of the 
Tempter of Eve in Paradise. The proprietors of 
land, unable to apply the principles of expanding 
science to the cultivation of the soil, to the same 
extent as they were applied to manufacturing pro- 
cesses, preferred to see operatives starve and the 
population of the kingdom brought to a standstill, 
rather than to see them fed by the unrestricted 
purchase of food abroad with the products of home 
industry. To their minds the proper remedy for 
Chartism was Wellington with disciplined and obe- 
dient troops under his command. The statesmen of 
England, wise in their generation, thought otherwise, 
and began that system of paternal legislation for 
the protection and benefit of the toiling people, 
which has gradually diminished poverty and caused 
the nation to prosper. The tax on the food of 
operatives, for the benefit of Tory proprietors of 
land, suddenly ceased, and the poor of England 
rejoiced. The principle has been established, and 
is constantly acted upon, that it is the right and 
duty of the State to protect the toiling masses 
against the encroachments of individual and class 
interests. All the abuses of centuries have not 
yet been swept away by Acts of Parliament, but 
much injustice and many a grievance have dis- 
appeared. The list of things injurious, prohibited 
by legislation in England, is constantly increasing. 

The army and navy of England have undergone 
a great transformation in the last thirty-five years. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 409 

The successful Exhibition of 1851 begat in the 
minds of men a delusive expectation that the 
civilized world was entering upon a long era of 
peace. Two years afterwards the Crimean War 
broke out and found England unprepared. Her 
resources were taxed to the utmost. Without the 
aid of France and Sardinia the war must have 
ended in disaster. The Indian Mutiny soon fol- 
lowed, which put the empire under a new and 
severe strain. The American War of Rebellion 
cut off England's supply of cotton and reduced 
whole cities to a state bordering on famine. A 
brief war between Prussia and Austria transferred 
the primacy of Germany from the latter to the 
former. The great Franco-German war changed 
the map of central Europe. A fresh war between 
Russia and Turkey filled England with apprehension. 
The relations between Russia and Great Britain 
have long been in a state of tension, causing from 
time to time costly spasmodic preparations for war. 
The army has been increased and improved in 
various ways. Vast sums of money have been 
spent in building armored ships, which are now 
found to be vulnerable by torpedoes, vertical firing, 
and dynamite shells. Venerable abuses still exist 
in both the army and navy, and it requires but a 
small scare to throw the nation into a panic. The 
management of both arms of the service is still 
entrusted to civilians, instead of naval and military 
experts, as in Germany and France. The British 
volunteers would be a poor defense against the 



410 A WINDING JOUHNEY 

invasion of a continental force. A high English 
authority recently asserted that a disciplined army 
of one hundred thousand men, once on the soil, 
would conquer the country. It may be that only 
a great calamity will awaken the government to 
the fact that personal respectability and power in 
parliamentary debate are not the best qualifications 
for making scientific preparations for the national 
defense. More than half of the enormous annual 
expenditures of the British government are for 
the army and navy. The nation has been rudely 
awakened from its dream of universal peace and 
finds itself unprepared for defense, notwithstanding 
its heavy burthen of taxation. A large portion of 
the public debt has been incurred by lavish waste 
in making hasty preparations for war. The British 
people are quick to fight, but never ready to 
begin. 

Parliamentary reform has been especially con- 
spicuous during the last four or five decades. Lord 
John Russell presented a reform bill in 1854, which 
had to be abandoned on account of the Crimean 
War. In 1859 Disraeli went out of power on a 
similar measure. The next year Mr. Gladstone 
brought in a franchise bill, which the secession of 
Mr. Lowe caused to fail. The following year 
Disraeli, by his extraordinary parliamentary skill, 
carried through a reform bill, with only a minority 
of party followers, which enfranchised all ratepayers 
in boroughs and materially reduced the property 
qualifications in counties. In 1885 Mr. Gladstone 



AROUND THE WORLD. 411 

carried through parliament, in direct conflict with 
the House of Lords, a radical measure, extending 
the franchise to all householders. Thus England, 
in less than half a century, has become, to a con- 
siderable extent, democratic. The transition from 
the old rotten borough system has been almost 
immeasurable. The crown has been shorn of its 
prerogatives, till the sovereign has less power left 
than that of a President of the United States. A 
cry has been raised, within the last few years, to 
abolish the House of Lords. The nobility of 
England, in times gone by, resisted the encroach- 
ments of the crown, and saved the people from 
the establishment of a despotism like that of 
Louis XIV. In turn, they grasped power, till the 
lords could almost say: "We alone are the State." 
In no continental country was the aristocratical 
element in the government so strong. To-day, the 
House of Commons, elected by almost universal 
suffrage, has become supreme. The House of Lords 
no longer ventures to antagonize the will of the 
people expressed by their representatives. ■ And 
the premier, in case of conflict, has the power to 
crush an adverse majority in the hereditary branch 
of parliament, by the creation of any number of 
new peers. 

Parliament has become supreme in Great Britain. 
In parliament the voice of the British people is 
heard. In fact, parliament has assumed executive 
as well as legislative functions. It is really over- 
whelmed with a multiplicity of duties, and many 



412 A ■WINDING JOURNEY 

important things must be left undone. The country- 
needs a uniform and comprehensive system of local 
self-government, to be extended to Ireland as well 
as to other portions of the realm, giving to the 
various communities jurisdiction in all police matters, 
technically so called. All expenditures for water- 
supply, gas, sewerage, sanitation, roads, drainage, 
hospitals, cemeteries, recreation grounds, and other 
public improvements, the enactment and enforcement 
of ordinances not conflicting with imperial laws 
and the public policy of the realm, might be 
entrusted to the local ratepayers in convenient 
divisions of the country, to the great relief of 
an overburdened parliament, and to the satisfaction 
of the British people. Abuses and privileges 
sanctioned by time, that have accumulated around 
venerable charters improperly granted in the less 
enlightened past, should be swept away by a great 
reform measure of local self-pfovernment. 

The franchise in England has been extended, 
of late years, more rapidly than the education 
necessary to prepare the people for its proper 
exercise. Fifty years ago Scotland had a general 
system of parochial schools supported by taxation. 
At that time the English government was not 
spending a penny for the education of the people. 
It is not necessary to recount here the steps 
by which a secular educational system has been 
gradually built up, in the face of clerical and other 
opposition. The government grant to elementary 
education now amounts to three millions of pounds. 



AROUND THE WORLD. 413 

and other resources increase the sum to seven 
millions. Little provision, however, has been made 
for intermediary education. Nothing in England 
corresponds with the High School of America, or 
with the Gymnasium of Germany. Nearly half 
a century ago, Lord John Russell addressed a 
letter, by command of Her Majesty, to the President 
of the Council, in which complaint was made that 
her poorer subjects were in a state of mental 
destitution — "not in accordance with the character 
of a civilized and Christian nation." Great advance- 
ment has been made since then, but England is 
still behind most Continental nations in provisions 
for public education. England has no technical 
schools, a consequence of which is that youths of 
the middle class are without proper aids in pre- 
paration for industry and commerce. Germany 
has an abundance of such schools, and as we have 
seen in a previous chapter, the young men of 
that country are much better armed than the 
young men of England in the sharp competition 
of the world's trade. 

The spirit of progress has even reached the 
conservative old Universities. Tests were abolished 
in 1 87 1, after a long and hard struggle. The 
graduate of Oxford or Cambridge is no longer 
obliged to sign the Thirty-Nine Articles of the 
Established Church, as a condition precedent to 
receiving academic honors. Other legislation, com- 
pleted as late as 1882, has established new pro- 
fessorships, revised the duties of old ones, destroyed 



414 A WINDING JOURNEY 

clerical privileges, abolished most restrictions upon 
marriage, limited the tenure of fellowships unless 
connected with real University work, strengthened 
the central authority of the Universities, and in 
various other ways introduced a more earnest 
purpose into the entire University organization. 
Classical studies are, however, still dominant at 
the Universities. A man may graduate at either 
Oxford or Cambridge without knowledge of any 
physical science. A student who can construe 
Pindar and Catullus, may receive honors at the 
old English Universities, in utter ignorance of 
Newton and Darwin, of Cavendish and Herbert 
Spencer. The Scottish Universities are suffering, as 
well as the English Universities, for the want of 
a system of intermediary education. Universities 
all over the continent, even in Russia, are fed by 
gymnasia, of which Great Britain is destitute. 
While Oxford and Cambridge are very grudgingly 
recognizing the study of modern sciences as instru- 
ments of mental discipline and higher education, 
other institutions have been established in which 
they receive ample attention. Victoria University at 
Manchester, the foundation of which was laid by a 
large bequest of John Owens in 1846, is alive with 
the spirit of the newer times. It began as a 
college and did not receive a charter with degree- 
giving powers, and with its present name, till 1880. 
University College at London, is a product of the 
reform era and already challenges comparison with 
the old Universities for the comprehensive scholarship 



AROUND THE WOKLD. 415 

and solid attainments of its graduates. The estab- 
lishment of London University, as an examining 
body, with power to confer degrees on all comers 
who can stand its severe tests, no matter where their 
knowledge was acquired, has liberally opened a 
career to gifted men, whose limited means would 
not enable them to bear the expense of residence 
at one of the great seats of learning. Such a 
recognition of scholarship, without any enquiry as 
to the place and mode of its attainment, is a noble 
product of liberal legislation and is producing a 
marked effect upon the higher institutions of 
learning throughout the empire. The examining 
body of London University is a high court of 
appeal open to any student aggrieved by the 
faculty of his college or oppressed by hard 
fortune. It pronounces with impartial rigor, and 
by the authority of English law, upon the quali- 
fications of any one who is seeking to enter, with 
unquestionable credentials, the limited ranks of the 
really learned. Its exclusively ad eitndem degrees 
are not conferred by favor, but only for true 
merit. 

During the past four or five decades, religious 
views in England have undergone an expansion 
quite as noticeable as the progress of parliamentary 
reform and the diffusion of education. When I 
first visited the country in 1853, the press, especially 
the religious portion of it, was still discussing 
the protest of Keble, Manning, and Pusey, against 
the legal decision in what is known as the Gorham 



416 A WINDING JOURNEY 

case. The Tractarian, or the RituaHstic, movement, 
representing extreme doctrines of the Eucharist 
and novel practices in imitation of the Roman 
Church, was antagonized by the Evangehcal move- 
ment. A bishop refused to institute a Mr. Gorham, 
on account of his extreme views of baptismal 
regeneration. Appeal was made to the Privy 
Council, which decided against the bishop, upon 
the ground that secular law could not decide a 
question of doctrine, and could only construe a 
contract. From that time. Ritualists and Evangeli- 
cals in the Anglican Church have been obliged to 
fight their battle at the bar of public opinion. 
Theologians, like metaphysicians and the heroes 
of Walhalla, are omnipotent in attack and impotent 
in defence. Hence discussion has resulted in 
enlarged views and a more christian spirit of 
tolerance. "Essays and Reviews" followed. Jowett, 
Stanley, Maurice, and others, published views that 
ecclesiastical functionaries were unable to punish. 
In Scotland, the principle of the Gorham decision 
was applied against the Free Church, confirming 
the legal right of patrons to appoint. Disraeli, 
however, sometime later, cut the knot by abolishing 
the right of patronage altogether in the Scotch 
Church. After that, each congregation became a 
democratic body, free to appoint its own minister. 
In 1869, Mr. Gladstone carried his bill for the 
Disestablishment of the Irish Church, characterizing 
it as a "branch of the Upas tree of Protestant 
ascendancy." It only remains for Parliament to 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 417 

pass a bill for the Disestablishment of the Anglican 
Church. Religion will then be entirely free in 
Great Britain. I confine myself strictly to a 
discussion of the relations of the Church and the 
State. The partial disentanglement of the eccles- 
iastical and the secular power has resulted in a 
spiritual and mental freedom unknown by any 
former generation. Italy, in our day, has solved 
a more difficult problem and is now in advance of 
England. The Scandinavian States, in other respects 
among the freest of Europe, are still entangled with 
Lutheranism, and, in ecclesiastical liberty, are behind 
Great Britain. 

It is not necejssary to discuss at length the 
recent expansion of England in literature and art. 
The scientific writings of Darwin, Huxley, Herbert 
Spencer, and others, hardly come within the pro- 
vince of literature, strictly so called. The historical 
productions of Maine, Stubbs, Freeman, Carlyle, 
and others, unequaled for accuracy of research and 
breadth of view in former times, cannot be classed 
with the belles-lettres of the period. Such monu- 
ments of scientific and historical research and 
exposition, profound in thought, unfettered by any 
trace or reminiscence of mediaeval superstition, are 
among the glories of English advancement in the 
latter half of the nineteenth century, but they 
are quite different from dramas, poems, novels, 
and essays, written to amuse and please, rather 
than to instruct. The quantity of strictly literary 

productions in the past thirty years has been 
27 



418 A WINDING JOURNEY 

enormous, and is still increasing. In art as in 
literature, activity has been very great. Master- 
pieces in either realm are few. Yet advancement 
in the idealism of form is very marked. Technical 
skill has increased and has become more general. 
England is full of correct and ready writers. The 
machinery for the pleasing diffusion of useful 
information and refining sentiment has never before 
been so perfect. Artists themselves have educated 
the public to appreciate and demand a better 
technique. At the same time knowledge of art 
and love of art for its own sake, have become 
more and more diffused. Creations in music are 
wanting, or extremely rare, yet an intelligent and 
discriminating taste for it has spread till it has 
become quite general. There is an expanding wave 
of education and culture in the British public that 
gladdens the heart of any well-wisher of the race. 
The glory of a nation is better shown by the 
elevation of the many than by the extraordinary 
attainments of a few. 

At the beginning of this half century Sir Robert 
Peel shattered his party by his free-trade measures. 
In due time, however, tariff duties were removed from 
twelve hundred different articles, and were retained 
on only two or three luxuries. Free trade became 
the settled policy of England. In our time, Mr. 
Gladstone has shattered the Liberal party by the 
introduction of a bill to give Ireland a separate Par- 
liament. His measure failed, but the end is not yet. 
Ireland cannot have autonomy, and her leaders know 



AROUND THE WOELD. 419 

it. Mr. Gladstone has not sought the dissolution of 
the realm, as his enemies in their partisan fury- 
have declared. The Irish, as a part of the United 
Kingdom, are entitled to all the privileges and 
immunities of British subjects. They are bound 
in loyalty to accept the same duties as are accepted 
by Scotchmen and Englishmen. The agitation will 
continue till all enactments reminding the Irish that 
they are a subject race shall be repealed. Perfect 
equality in citizenship with other men in the realm 
is all that they will get, is in fact all that they 
demand. They will be contented, if all the British 
people, including themselves, are made homogenous 
by law. Scotchmen became intensely loyal as soon 
as they obtained equal rights with Englishmen. 
Irishmen will become equally loyal as soon as 
they are made in fact, as well as in name, Britons. 
Even as I write the Irish have awakened to a clear 
discrimination between things temporal and things 
spiritual, between State and Church, under the 
stimulus of a Papal rescript. They are moving in 
the right direction. A nobler England, under the 
leadership of men like Gladstone, will in time be 
their true friend. Equal rights, equal privileges, 
equal duties, heroically demanded, justly conceded, 
will by and by make the Union a fruitful reality. 
It was an Irishman who won the battle of Waterloo. 
It is an Irishman who commands the British army 
to-day. Let Englishmen and Irishmen separate 
matters of faith from matters political, on a basis 
of equality and justice. Let both, with mutual 



420 A WINDING JOURNEY 

toleration, mutual respect, and good-will, render 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto 
God the things that are God's, and start together 
in a new race of mutual helpfulness and prosperity. 
Let the descendants of two waves of Aryan 
mio-ration unite and claim top^ether their common 
inheritance of liberty. As long as the Englishman 
assumes superiority and wrongs his Celtic brother, 
warfare, latent or real, will continue. 

When I first visited England every copy of 
any journal circulated in the realm bore a stamp. 
The daily intellectual bread of the people was 
taxed. Sometime since that tax was repealed. The 
press is now free. In the past two or three decades 
newspapers have been greatly multiplied. Constant 
improvements in printing machinery, new inventions 
in paper-making, increased demand by diffusion of 
knowledge among the people, extension of the 
telegraph to all parts of the world, unlimited 
capital, combinations of men with the most diver- 
sified talents, sharp competition, eager enterprise, 
the stimulus of the active spirit of the age, have 
produced great journals whose influence is felt by 
the most powerful governments. The morning 
newspaper, at London or New York, wherever the 
press has been emancipated from censorship, 
contains the world's history of the previous day. 
Everybody who has a penny or two to spare may 
learn what is going on in the whole world. The 
daily press corresponds in the intellectual and 
moral sphere to the railroad in the material affairs 



AROUND THE WOELD. 421 

of life. Many of the best writers in Great Britain 
are employed in journalism. In the morning and 
evening papers of the metropolis one frequently 
finds editorials written with the facile grace of 
Addison, the pungent satire of Junius, the exub- 
erant fancy of Lamb, or the denunciatory eloquence 
of Burke. The educational power of the press is 
not yet fully measured. Men disposed to evil are 
restrained by the publicity it gives to all important 
acts. The press grows by what it feeds on, and 
liberty cannot perish as long as it remains free. 
Current progress in England is, in great measure, 
the product of intelligent and fearless journalism. 

During the last quarter of a century there 
has been marked progress in sanitation. . The 
labors of Chadwick, Simon, Richardson, and others, 
have increased the length and value of life. The 
people of Great Britain are to-day better housed, 
better fed, better clothed, than at any previous 
time in its history. The government and the 
press are looking after bodies as well as minds 
and souls. There is still a vast field for improve- 
ment, but much has already been done, and well 
done. The American, Peabody, has set a noble 
and generous example to British capitalists, of 
providing wholesome habitations to artizans of 
restricted means. Parliament has legislated to pro- 
tect the needy and the ignorant against the neg- 
ligence and greed of landlords. Recent enactments 
emphasize and define the common law — that each 
must so use his own as not to injure another's. 



422 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Recent Acts of Parliament go even farther, and 
virtually say to every man : Thou art thy brother's 
keeper. Enlarged constituencies are already exerting 
a salutary influence on legislators, reminding them, 
by some direct and many indirect ways, that toiling 
human beings have a right not only to live but 
to be well. 

It is not necessary to pursue the pleasing theme 
further. The government and people of Great 
Britain are to-day more nearly identical than at 
any previous time. There has been great advance- 
ment in scientific discovery, and especially in the 
application of newly-found principles to the increased 
production of the material comforts of life, within 
the last few decades, not alone in England, but in 
all civilized countries. England, however, has had 
an .industrial, commercial, political, educational, 
religious and literary expansion peculiar to herself. 
Poverty, want, suffering are still mournfully abundant 
on every hand, but the material condition of the 
people has greatly improved since the period of 
the Chartist riots. The influence, direct and indirect, 
of a hereditary aristocracy is to-day manifest enough, 
yet It has been immensely abridged by the recent 
extension of the franchise. Dissenters and unbe- 
lievers must still contribute, against their will, to 
the support of an established church, yet religious 
freedom has had a rapid expansion during the last 
quarter of a century. The British government, 
more and more influenced by the people, is extending 
a wider protection to the helpless classes. Primary 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 423 

education has been brought within the reach of the 
poorest. Higher education has been freed from 
conditions that beget hypocrisy in the morally 
weak and obstruct the path of the conscientious. 
An able, enlightened, and independent press attacks 
abuses and redresses wrongs. Fortunately, the 
flexible English Constitutions lends itself to progress 
without revolution. The nation has become 
conscious of its organic life and proudly takes 
its place by the side of the New German Empire, 
United Italy, and Republican France, in the rapid 
growth and consolidation of constitutional liberty — 
liberty regulated by law and the just administration 
of law. The transition, since the battle of Leipsig 
and its supplementary battle of Waterloo, in the 
direction of the tempered and enlightened freedom 
of the masses, in all civilized lands, has been 
amazing, and fills the breast of any sincere and 
thoughtful student of history with the liveliest hope 
for the permanent advancement and well-being of 
mankind. 



PART III. 
TO THK ANTIPODKS. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM LONDON TO PORT SAID. THE MEDITERRANEAN 

SEA. 

^N the first of September, 1887, I embarked at 
Gravesend Reach, off Tilbury, in the lower 
.> Thames, for Australia. A gale was blowing 
outside, and the steamship "Austral" remained at 
anchor all night. We got under way the following 
morning. Not knowing a soul on board, I had 
nothing to do but observe the rest, and to study 
out on good maps any places noted in history as 
we passed them. 

We leave behind us great London, with its 
four and a half millions of inhabitants, with its 
palaces and public buildings, with its thousand 
places of worship, with its vast accumulations of 
this world's goods, with its hundreds of acres of 
docks, with its ships that come and go from and to 
the ends of the earth, with its riches and poverty, 
with its glories and shames, — the central city of 
the globe. We pass Tilbury Fort, on the left. 
Soon we leave Gravesend and sail into Sea Reach, 
where fortifications on both sides protect the 
metropolis of England from the approach of hostile 
ships. We go by the mouth of the Medway on 

426 



AROUND THE WORLD. 427 

the right, and the pleasant shore of Southend on 
the left. The fortifications of the Isle of Grain 
and Sheerness, which guard the lair of the modern 
sea-dogs, are in full view. The word " Nore," 
painted on a light ship, calls up more naval history 
than I can here recount. Under the heights of 
Chatham yonder are great naval dockyards. The 
coast of Kent comes in sight, with its long centuries 
of historical recollections. The chalk cliffs rise 
abruptly on the receding shore, and we soon enter 
the straits of Dover. Watering places, Hastings, 
St. Leonard's, Eastbourne, Brighton, to which all 
aristocratic England flows in the course of the 
summer, nestle at the foot of the high downs, 
after we sail by the shingly flat of Dungenness. 
The Isle of Wight, Spithead, Portsmouth, South- 
hampton, Cowes, Bonchurch, Ventnor, we pass by, 
while the gale lashes the shallow waters of the 
channel into foam, doing damage to small craft, 
and blowing down buildings here, and there on 
shore. Our great ship rides steadily the angry 
small waves, that only seem to forecast the billows 
of the great ocean. 

The curious chalk " Needles," cut into shape by 
the sea, mark the western shore of the Isle of 
Wight. On that island my ancestors are buried. 
There is an extinct earldom of Wight, which, if I 
had been born in England, I would have regained 
or perished in the attempt. 

Past Bournemouth and St. Alban's Head, we 
steer toward Portland, plunge through the agitated 



428 A WINDING JOURNEY 

waters of Portland Race, cross West Bay, in sight 
of Torquay, towards the Start Promontory, then 
coast along the rocky shore, till we reach Plymouth, 
where the steamship enters the harbor. 

At sight of Plymouth the heart of an 
American beats quicker. From its harbor sailed 
the Mayflower in 1620, with its precious cargo of 
Pilgrim Fathers, who founded New England. The 
names of Frobisher, Drake, and Hawkins, associated 
with Plymouth, carry us back to the age of 
discoveries. Vancouver sailed from Plymouth to 
found British Columbia on the western shore of 
North America. From there Cook sailed to make 
discoveries in the islands of the Pacific ocean and 
to found New South Wales. 

Plymouth, with its suburbs, has 200,000 inhab- 
itants. A break-water, nearly a mile long, costing 
two millions of pounds sterling, has made there 
a safe harbor, which is protected by great forti- 
fications. The neighboring moorlands of Devon 
and Cornwall make Plymouth a pleasant place of 
sojourn. Many passengers come down from London 
by railroad to take the ship here. Many disembark, 
who have come round from the Thames on the 
ship to Plymouth, in order to accompany their 
friends a little way on their journey to the other 
side of the world. 

A little out of Plymouth we pass the Eddystone 
rocks, then cross the Chops of the Channel, where 
England and France have fought two great duels. 
The French island of Ushant comes in sight, whose 



AROmSTD THE WOELD. 429 

inhabitants passed out of the old heathendom only 
a century or two ago, about the time when many 
other inhabitants of France passed into the new 
heathendom. Ushant is the northern cape of the 
Bay of Biscay, into which roll the great seas of 
the stormy northern Atlantic, giving it an evil 
reputation. We find it calm as a pond and sail 
over it in twenty-four hours. The cool atmosphere 
of the north changes in a day to the sultriness of 
the south. 

Cape Finisterre, the other horn of the Bay of 
Biscay, greets us, and Coruna in the distance 
recalls Sir John Moore, who died in the moment 
of victory. As we sail over the dark, deep sea, 
some one reminds us that somewhere beneath us 
lies the "Captain," a turret-ship that went down 
with a crew of 500 brave Englishmen on board. 
On we go, like the elements that take no rest, by 
Oporto, of port wine renown, along the straight 
coast of Portugal, around the Berlingas, whose 
rocks frown over the sea. We pass Torres- 
Vedras, where Wellington began the conflict 
that ended at Waterloo. Before reaching Cintra, 
we behold with a good glass, which the kindly, 
intelligent captain of the Austral holds to our 
eyes, the Mafra Palace, the largest building 
in the world, except the Vatican. " Monte 
Serrato" is discernible, far off in Cintra, in the 
midst of Australian gum-trees, with vineyards 
on the slope, from which comes the precious 
Lisbon wine. 



430 A WINDING JOURNEY 

" Lo ! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes 
In variegated maze of mount and glen, 
Ah, me ! what hand can pencil guide, or pen, 
To follow half on which the eye dilates 
Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken 
Than those whereof such things the bard relates, 
Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium's gate?" 

A glimpse is caught of Lisbon itself, just before 
we come to the mouth of the Tagus. The cliffs 
of Cape Espichel appear, and beyond them, the 
port of Setubal, with its orange groves, Portuguese, 
Moorish, Roman, Phoenician, as we gaze backward 
in the vista of history. Cape St. Vincent is sighted 
ahead. The city of Seville is not far away, and the 
vineyards of Xeres are easily recalled by one who 
has ever tasted their precious wines. We are on the 
very sea where Lord St. Vincent won his great 
naval victory in 1797. From this coast sailed the 
Portuguese vessels that discovered so many distant 
lands and islands, which the Dutch seized in turn, 
to be followed by the English. Passing the Portu- 
guese shore, we see Cape Trafalgar, on the Spanish 
coast, where Nelson won his greatest victory, 
destroying the combined French and Spanish fleets, 
twice the size of his own, and losing his life at 
the supreme moment of victory. 

Passing the Algeciras, on the Spanish coast, we 
enter the straits of Gibraltar, between the " Pillars 
of Hercules." The passage is only eight miles wide. 
There is a strong inflow of water from the Atlantic 
Ocean. The current, when not interfered with 
by the tide, flows at the rate of four miles an hour. 



AliOUND THE WORLD. 431 

and is two hundred fathoms deep. The evapor- 
ation from the surface of the Mediterranean Sea 
has to be suppHed from the great reservoir of the 
Atlantic. If the Straits of Gibraltar were to be 
closed by some convulsion of nature, the waters 
of the Mediterranean would disappear, under the 
southern sun, notwithstanding the inflow of many 
great rivers. It is quite probable that the great 
Sahara Desert is the bed of an evaporated sea. 
It has been proposed to flood the low-lying basin 
of the Desert, by letting water into it from the 
ocean. The size of the Gibraltar current, eight 
miles wide and six hundred feet deep, would 
fairly indicate the amount of excavation that 
would be necessary to make the experiment 
successful. 

Through the Straits of Gibraltar the old Phoe- 
nician navigators boldly sailed, along the European 
coast as far as England, and down the African 
shore to an unknown distance. They even made 
attempts to sail round Africa, although they did 
not succeed in this direction. They did succeed, 
however, in the opposite direction, from the Red 
Sea, and came home by the " Pillars of Hercules." 
The Greeks passed through the straits, but did 
not venture so far as the Phoenicians. 

The famous Rock of Gibraltar is one of the 
pillars of the strait. Ceuta, on the opposite shore, 
is the other. The English have possessed it since 
1704. The Spaniards and French have tried in 
vain to dislodge them. The fortress is impregnable. 



432 A WINDING JOURNEY 

It does not command the wide channel, but it 
affords shelter for English ships, where they can 
obtain coal and other supplies. Thus it is the 
key to the Mediterranean Sea, The English will 
hold it as long as they choose, for no nation, nor 
combination of nations, can wrest it from them. 
We see it by the morning sun, frowning far over 
the agitated waters, bidding defiance to all comers, 
symboling the wide dominion of the greatest mari- 
time power on earth. 

We sail sixty miles and espy Malaga, at the 
foot of a mountain range, beyond which, out of 
sight, is Granada, with its famous Alhambra. We 
pass, on the right, the little Spanish island of 
Alboran, the home of smugglers, the former rendez- 
vous of pirates, and then catch a glimpse of the 
Sierra Nevada. The stormy Gulf of Lyons is 
crossed, where contending winds are always wrest- 
ling on the angry sea. We pass by the southern 
end of rocky Sardinia, which is the largest of 
Italian islands, even larger than Sicily. We take 
a straight line for Naples, where we lay in the 
beautiful bay, all day long, under a broiling Sep- 
tember sun. I have described the Bay of Naples 
before in this book, and it is not necessary to 
describe it here again. 

Cholera was in Naples, notwithstanding which 
many passengers went ashore and explored the city. 
Other passengers came on board, who had crossed 
the continent of Europe by railroad, in order to 
escape some days of a long sea voyage. Among 



AKOUND THE WORLD. 433 

the new comers were a noble lord, and an Irish 
member of Parliament. The "oldest inhabitants" 
of the ship, those who had embarked in London, 
never quite fraternized with the " parvenu " pas- 
sengers, and constituted an aristocracy by themselves. 
We then had a community of over nine hundred 
souls on the great steamship. The Orient line, 
sailing direct to Australia, carries third class, as 
well as first and second class, passengers. The 
Peninsular and Oriental boats, sailing direct to 
India, carry only first and second class, and are 
therefore not so crowded. 

On we journey, through the Straits of Messina, 
between Scylla and Charybdis, in view of smoking 
iEtna, round the rocky southern end of Italy, over 
the placid eastern Mediterranean, along the moun- 
tainous shore of Crete, to Port Said, at the entrance 
to the Suez Canal. We sail by the Damietta 
mouth of the Nile, and almost over the scenes 
of the naval battles of the Nile and Aboukir. 
Alexandria is too far away, and not even a glimpse 
of it is caught. The Mediterranean is the watery 
highway between Europe, Africa and Asia. Around 
it has gathered the civilization of the world, since 
the dawn of history. "The grand object of all 
traveling," said Dr. Johnson, "is to see the shores 
of the Mediterranean. On those shores were the 
four great empires of the world ; the Assyrian, 
the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. All 
our religion, almost all our law, almost all our arts, 

almost all that sets us above the savages, has come 
28 



434 A WINDING JOUENEY 

to US from the shores of the Mediterranean." ' As 
Byron sang, with his incomparable poetic eloquence : 

" Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee — 
Assyria, Greece, Eome, Carthage, what are they? 
Thy waters washed them power while they were free. 
And many a tyrant since; their shores obey 
The stranger, slave, or savage ; their decay 
Has dried up realms to deserts ; — not so thou ; — 
Unchangeable save to thy wild wave's play — 
* Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow — 

Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now." 



AROUND THE WORLD. 435 



CHAPTER 11. 



THE SUEZ CANAL. 



cWccoRDiNG to Herodotus, Pharaoh Neco projected 
^^^ and partially constructed a canal, from a 
'^' point on the Red Sea about a mile and a 
half from Suez, to Bubastis, on the eastern, or 
Pelusiac, branch of the Nile. Aristotle, Strabo, 
and Pliny, ascribe the great public improvement 
of antiquity to Sesostris. Herodotus was probably 
correct, for Sesostris is a half-mythical, while 
Pharaoh Necho is a real personage. The ancient 
canal, which was commenced 600 years before the 
Christian era, was ninety-two miles long. It ran 
in a north-westerly direction, through a series of 
natural depressions. The labor of men cut sixty 
miles of it. Its width was from 108 to 165 feet. 
Its depth was fifteen feet. Pliny says it was 
thirty feet deep , but he must be wrong, for no 
ships of antiquity drew so much water, and it is 
not probable that money for human labor would 
be squandered on entirely unnecessary excavation. 
The work begun by Necho was finished, according 
to some, by the Persian King Darius, or, according 
to others, by the Ptolemies. Notwithstanding con- 
flicting accounts of the details of its construction, 



436 A WINDING JOUENEY 

it is entirely certain that such an ancient canal 
existed, through which commerce was carried on 
in ships between the Mediterranean and Red Seas. 

At length the canal became choked up with 
the sands. It was reopened by the Emperor 
Trajan in the early part of the second century. 
The sands again filled, or partly filled it up, and 
so it remained, until the Calif Omar sent his 
general Amrou to conquer Egypt. By him the 
ancient water-way was again opened to commerce. 
The winds and the sands continued to busy them- 
selves with the works of man, and the navigation 
of the canal was closed in 767. 

To it Napoleon turned his attention, during his 
famous expedition to Egypt. He set his engineers 
surveying the isthmus between the two seas, in 
order to determine the feasibility of reconstructing 
the ancient work. Singularly enough, the French 
engineers reported that the level of the Mediter- 
ranean Sea is thirty feet lower than the level of 
the Red Sea. If that were the case, through the 
ancient canal, when it was first opened, would have 
poured a current swifter than that of the lower 
Mississippi, a current that would have cut and kept 
perpetually open a channel greater than the Bosph- 
orus or the Helespont. 

In 1847, France, England, and Austria, united 
in a commission to determine accurately the level 
of the two seas. The engineers employed reported, 
as might have been expected, that the Mediter- 
ranean and the Red Seas have precisely the same 



AROUND THE WORLD. 437 

mean level. There is only a slight difference of 
the tides. In 1853 another measurement was 
made with the same results. Mr. Stephenson, the 
English commissioner, reported strongly against 
the feasibility of a canal suited to the exigencies 
of modern commerce. Just as though the Euro- 
pean nations of to-day, with all the engineering 
appliances of the age, could not accomplish what 
Pharaoh Necho, Trajan, and the Calif Omar, had 
found practicable. Stephenson recommended a rail- 
road from Cairo to Suez, which was constructed. 
M. Talabot, the French commissioner, published 
a detailed counter statement, in favor of a ship 
canal from Suez to a point six miles below Alex- 
andria. 

In 1854, however, M. de Lesseps, a member 
of the French legation in Egypt, appeared on the 
field, with a proposition to abandon the course of 
the ancient canal, and to make a straight cut from 
sea to sea, 144 feet wide at the bottom, 262 feet 
wide at the surface, and twenty-two and one-half 
feet deep. In 1856 he obtained a concession, in 
other words, the exclusive permission, from the 
Egyptian government, to construct such a canal 
from Tyneh to Suez. The most striking feature 
of M. de Lessep's plan was the construction of 
an artificial harbor five miles out into the Mediter- 
ranean, and another three miles out into the Gulf 
of Suez. In 1855 a third European commission, 
appointed to examine the ground, reported in favor 
of the feasibility of M. de Lessep's plan. A joint- 



438 A WINDING JOURNEY 

stock company was formed, with a capital of 
^8,000,000, which was" subsequently increased. 
Sai'd, the Pasha of Egypt, subscribed for a large 
amount of stock, and gave a subsidy of land. 
The work was commenced at the close of i860, 
and finished in 1869. With the success of the 
undertaking the opposition of the English ceased. 
In 1875 the British government purchased the shares 
of the Khedive, 176,602 out of 400,000, for the 
round sum of £4,000,000. 

We approached Port Said, a city of 10,000 
inhabitants, which had its birth with the canal, 
between two artificial piers, one 6,000 feet long, 
the other 7,000, which are 2,300 feet apart at the 
sea end, and 4,600 feet apart at the shore end. 
The longer pier bends round the end of the shorter 
one, in the arc of a circle, so as to enclose the 
port from the action of the sea, and to shut out 
the silt washed in by the waves. These piers are 
constructed of artificial blocks, weighing ten tons 
each, composed of one part of hydraulic cement 
and two parts of sand, ground into a paste, moulded 
in a strong cubical box, and dried in the sun. Each 
block contains ten cubic metres. The piers seem 
durable, and the artificial blocks are said to stand 
the pounding of the waves as well as natural stone. 
There is an inner port within this outer harbor, 
870 yards by 500, which is kept dredged to the 
uniform depth of thirty feet. 

We remained two days at Port Said. No 
passenger was allowed to land, nor any native to 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 439 

go on board the ship, because we had come from 
the infected port of Naples. Consequently, the 
ship's crew had to do the coaling, and to carry on 
board and stow 500 tons of dried fruit for Australia. 
The Arabs of the port, who can load 200 tons of 
coal in one hour, were forbidden by the Egyptian 
quarantine officers to approach the steamer. The 
burning sun and clouds of coal dust made the 
sojourn exceedingly disagreeable. 

At length we got under way, early in the 
morning. The first twenty miles of the canal run 
through Lake Menzaleh, a lagoon from one to ten 
feet deep. The canal is here twenty-six feet deep, 
twenty-six yards wide at the bottom, and 1 1 2 yards 
wide at the top. The clay and silt dredged out 
to make the channel is piled up on either side to 
make an artificial embankment fifteen feet high. 
The scene was dreary in the extreme. The lagoon, 
beyond the embankments, extends as far as the 
eye can see. Endless flocks of birds were winging 
their way westward over the marsh. On the embank- 
ments, ahead of us, were long rows of pelicans, 
and white flamingoes rose in the air, showing their 
pink breasts, like pale floating flames above the 
desert of stagnant waters. 

The distance from Lake Menzaleh to Abu 
Ballah Lake is eleven miles. The cutting there 
was from fifteen to thirty feet in solid ground. 
From Abu Ballah Lake to Temsah Lake there 
are eleven miles of cutting from thirty to eighty 
feet deep. Across the latter lake the distance is 



440 A WINDING JOURNEY 

only three miles. At El Guisr, on this stretch of 
eleven miles between the lakes, the cutting reached, 
for a short distance, nearly loo feet deep. This 
portion of the canal is somewhat winding, and in 
it ships sometimes get across the channel and 
block the way. And here crosses the great caravan 
route between Asia and Africa. 

Ismailia, on the western shore of Lake Temsah, 
is a town of 5,000 inhabitants, and is regarded as 
the half-way place on the canal. A railway runs 
from it to Suez, and another to Alexandria. There 
comes in the canal from the Nile, to supply the 
shipping and the inhabitants with fresh water. A 
branch extends southward to Suez, and a pipe 
has been laid northward to Port Said. It is 
curious to observe what a rank growth of vegeta- 
tion springs up wherever any fresh water from 
this system of supply reaches, by leakage or 
otherwise, the desert earth. 

The Khedive has a summer palace at Ismailia. 
At the grand opening of the canal, in November, 
1869, assembled here were distinguished guests 
from all Europe, among others the Empress 
Eugenie, the Emperor of Austria, the Crown 
Prince, now the Emperor of Germany, and the 
Khedive. It was a gala day for all commercial 
nations. 

In 1882, when the English were making war 
on Arabi, Sir G. Woolsey seized Ismailia and 
made it the base of supplies. The material for 
20,000 men was landed there and forwarded after 



AROUND THE WORLD. 441 

the army that was moving into Egypt by the 
railroad and the navigable fresh-water canal. After 
the storming of Tel-el-Kebeer, the life of the 
suddenly awakened town as suddenly departed. 

It is worthy of note that the drainage of Ismailia 
was into the fresh-water canal. There, as else- 
where, the nasty human animal, with perverse 
ingenuity, contrived a way to swallow his own 
excrement by running his drainage into his drinking 
water. The town was visited *by fever and became 
nearly uninhabitable. The visitation of fever was 
charged up to Allah by the Arabs, who are not 
much behind the Christians in laying the conse- 
quences of their own stupidity and sin to the 
Deity. 

From Lake Temsah to the Bitter Lake there 
is a cutting of eight miles, varying from thirty to 
sixty-two feet deep. The water was let into the 
canal there by the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
February 28, 1869. This portion of the canal is 
called the " Serapeum Cutting," from an ancient 
monument in the neighborhood. A channel was 
made through the shallow Bitter Lakes, partly by 
dredging, and partly by embankments, as through 
Menzaleh Lakes. From these lakes to the 
Ishthmus of Suez there is a cutting of thirteen 
miles, from thirty to fifty-six feet deep, through 
the stony plateau of Chalouf. At its entrance into 
the Red Sea, the channel is preserved by long 
moles. 

The canal is eighty-seven geographical, or about 



442 A WINDING JOURNEY 

loo Statute, miles long. One-fourth of it is through 
lakes or lagoons. It is, or was intended to be, 
twenty-six feet deep, and seventy-two feet wide 
on the bottom, throughout its entire length. The 
tide of the Red Sea (about six and a half feet) 
is felt as far as the Bitter Lakes, Ships pass 
each other by means of "sidings," or "gares,'* 
into which they go and wait for their turn, as 
indicated by signals. Large ships go through the 
canal with less difficulty than small ones, owing to 
the fact that they are less liable to get across the 
channel. 

Many laborers are now busy enlarging the 
canal in its narrower places, and it is constantly 
kept clear of sands, that drift in from the deserts, 
by dredging. The regulation speed of steamers 
is five or six knots an hour. The usual time of 
making the passage is two days. Herodotus says 
that ships passed through the ancient canal in 
four days. 

The Suez Canal has been a great success, and 
has made the name of M. de Lesseps famous in 
all lands. The engineering difficulties were not 
great. An army of laborers was required, which 
Egypt could easily supply. The whole cost was 
£12,000,000. Four-fifths of the shipping that 
passes through it is British. The enormous tolls 
produce a revenue large enough to keep the work 
in repair and to pay good interest on the outlay. 
It abridges the time from Hamburg or London to 
Bombay, by twenty-four days ; from Marseilles or 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 443 

Genoa, thirty days ; from Trieste, thirty-seven days. 
The benefit to English commerce, by shortening 
the distance to British India and the AustraHan 
colonies, is worth more than the cost of the 
work. 



444 A WINDING JOUENEY 



CHAPTER III. 



THE RED SEA. 



W 



fE were detained at Suez, as at Port Said, and 
for the same reason. We were at the ancient 
.^ crossing place between Asia and Africa. The 
port, with its fine new docks, is a mile and a half 
from the old town of Suez. Arab boys, with 
their donkeys, stood along the shore, ready to 
convey passengers from the steamer to the Egyptian 
bazaars of the neighboring city, but the quarantine 
ofhcers would permit none of us to land. In some 
mysterious way we might convey cholera from 
Naples to Suez. 

The Red Sea mio^ht have been called the sea 
of the desert, for not a single stream enters it, in 
its entire circumference of three thousand miles. 
While we were in port, there was a shower lasting 
ten minutes, which was the first rainfall there in 
three years. The whole region is arid. The sea 
is kept from drying up by a perpetual influx of 
water, through the Straits of Bab-El-Mandeb, from 
the Indian Ocean. 

"When," says Professor Tyndall, "the Alpine 
sun is setting, or better still, some time after it 
has set, leaving the limbs and shoulders of the 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 445 

mountains in shadow, while their snowy crests are 
bathed by the retreating Hght, the snow glows with 
a beauty and solemnity hardly equaled by any 
other natural phenomenon. So, also, when first 
illuminated by the rays of the unrisen sun, the 
mountain heads, under favorable atmospheric con- 
ditions, shine like rubies. And all this splendor 
is evoked by the simple mechanism of minute 
particles, themselves without color, suspended in 
the air. Those who referred the extraordinary 
succession of atmospheric glows, witnessed some 
years ago, to a vast and violent discharge of 
volcanic ashes, were dealing with *a true cause.' 
The fine floating residue of such ashes would 
undoubtedly be able to produce the effect ascribed 
to it. Still the mechanism to produce the morning 
and evening red, though of variable efficiency, is 
always present in the atmosphere. I have seen 
displays, equal in magnificence to the finest of 
those above referred to, when there was no 
special volcanic outburst to which they could be 
referred. It was the long-continued repetition of 
the glows which rendered the volcanic theory 
highly probable." 

In my judgment, we have here the true 
scientific explanation of the perpetual phenomenon 
of color, around and on the Red Sea, from which 
it derives its name. The finest dust rises from 
the arid deserts, both of Egypt and Arabia, and 
floats in the atmosphere over the narrow sea. 
Through this dust, especially at morning and 



446 A WINDING JOUENEY 

evening, the sun, in a cloudless sky, showers a 
ruby glow. No residue of volcanic dust could be 
finer or more abundant than the dust of the 
deserts. This dust is indeed so abundant, especially 
when a strong wind blows from the Arabian shore, 
that it settles on the deck of a ship, a hundred 
miles away, so thick that you can write your name 
in it. Through the everlasting omnipresent dust- 
mist of the parched air, the sun spreads a canopy 
of all colors blended into a diffused red. Certain 
it is that the atmosphere over the sea has a ruby 
tint, that is frequently reflected from the water, 
especially at the hour of sunrise or sunset. 

The transition from the soft azure color of the 
water and sky of the Mediterranean, to the porphyry 
tint of the Red Sea, is so striking as to arrest 
attention at once and direct the mind in search 
of a cause. The soft haze resting on the Medit- 
erranean gives one a pleasing sense of repose. 
The metallic clearness and hardness of the atmos- 
phere over the Red Sea makes one feel restless, 
as though he were under a vast dome of heated 
and burnished steel. 

The Red Sea is 1,200 miles long, running in 
N. N. W. and S. S. E. direction. It is shaped 
like a long-handled fork, with two short tines at 
the northern end. The western tine is the Gulf 
of Suez. The eastern tine is the Gulf of Akaba. 
Between the two gulfs is the Sinaitic Peninsula. 

On the left, as we leave Suez, the officers of 
the ship point out the palm tree, in a little oasis. 



AROUND THE WOULD. 447 

which is said to mark the Well of Moses. The 
gulf as it opens into the sea, is about thirty miles 
wide. There are mountains of barren rock on 
both sides. Those on the left side, toward the 
end of the Sinai Peninsula, rise to a height of 
9,000 feet. All the passengers were eager to get 
a view of the sacred Mount, on which the Law 
was given to Moses. We first passed Mount 
Serbal, with its five peaks, the most imposing 
in the Sinaitic Range, which the Fathers of the 
Church reofarded as the Sinai of Moses. We 
next passed the Jebel Katherin, which is still 
higher. Lastly, we passed the peak of Um 
Shaumur, which is the highest of all. It is probable 
that none of these peaks, that stood so imposing 
in the foreground, was the veritable Sinai of Moses. 
The purser of the ship, a well-informed gentleman, 
directed our attention to a range further off, near 
the Gulf of Akaba, the northern summit of which 
is Mount Horeb, the southern summit of which 
is called by the Arabs Jebel-Musa, tfie Mount 
of Moses. As we sailed along the end of the 
peninsula, the captain kindly lent me his powerful 
glass and I gazed devoutly at Jebel-Musa as the 
veritable place where God gave, through Moses, 
to the human race Commandments that have 
enlightened a hundred generations, and still guide 
us in the path of duty. 

We soon pass the Island of Jubal, then the 
Island of Shadwan, at a late hour in the evening. 
About 100 miles further on, in the morning, we 



448 A WINDING JOURNEY 

pass two striking islands, called the Brothers by 
the officers of the ship, which lie off Kosseir, a 
port on the Egyptian shore to the right. At this 
port Sir R. Abercrombie landed with an Indian 
contingent in 1802 and marched to Cairo. Here 
the Nile approaches nearest to the Red Sea. At 
nightfall we reach, 165 miles farther, the latitude 
of Berenice on the Egyptian shore, opposite to 
the first cataract of the Nile, which is inland 130 
miles. On the Arabian shore, is the port of Jembo, 
from which the distance to Medina, the City of 
the Prophet, is 130 miles. 

A further course of 170 miles, between desert 
shores, carries us past Jiddah, the port on the 
Arabian side, where pilgrims for Mecca land. The 
fanatical Mohamedans of Jiddah, in 1858, rose 
against the Christians residing there for the purpose 
of trade, and massacred many of them. The 
British promptly bombarded the town in retali- 
ation. England never fails to protect her subjects, 
in any part of the world ; to defend their rights, 
to redress their grievances, to avenge their wrongs. 
Mecca is only 60 miles from Jiddah. One could 
go there in a day, if the fanatical inhabitants 
would permit "infidel dogs" to visit their holy 
city. It is said that, of late years, the number of 
pilgrims is gradually falling off. Even superstitions 
perish in the fullness of time. 

We sail another hundred miles and come to 
the Dhalac Archipelago, behind which lie the island 
of Massowah and the port of Annesley Bay. There 



AHOUND THE WORLD. 449 

England landed an expedition in 1867, to punish 
the Abyssinians, whose country is reached by crossing 
a narrow strip of Egyptian territory that lies along 
the shore. A little farther on we pass the volcano 
of Jebel Teir, the Guano islands of Zebayer and 
Jebel Zukur, and the Hanish islands. Thirty-five 
miles beyond we pass the Arabian port of Mocha, 
from which the best coffee comes. We reach 
Perim, forty miles further, a small island, three 
miles long, one mile wide, standing in the mouth 
of the Red Sea, with a light house 250 feet 
high, just as the sun, a great blazing globe of fire, 
is dropping behind the Egyptian hills on the near 
shore. The huge steamship ploughs its way 
through the Straits of Bab-El-Mandeb, 'the Gate of 
Tears,' so called by the Arabians on account of 
the numerous wrecks there, into the Gulf of Aden, 
an inlet of the Indian Ocean. 

If there is such a place as that whose name 
has been politely changed by the revisers of the 
Scriptures, the Red Sea is certainly the highway 
to it. A mild breeze, blowing from the north, just 
kept pace with the ship, so that we were practically 
in a dead calm all the way. The water of the sea, 
drawn for a bath from more than twenty feet below 
the surface, was 92°, P., hot. The captain, a truth- 
ful man, said he had once found it 98°. A tem- 
perature of 100° and over has been reported. The 
air was much hotter than the water. A night 
temperature of 104° was observed. The rays of 

the blazing sun at mid-day, out of the ruby-colored 
29 



450 A WINDING JOUENEY 

sky, were like shafts of subtle flame. Passengers 
on ships going the other way, against the breeze, 
had much the advantage of us. 

There is a small British garrison at Perim, 
stationed there, it is said, to keep enemies out of 
the Red Sea. I have never seen a place into 
which it would be more desirable to entice an 
enemy. 

On the African shore, opposite to Aden, the 
Italians have made fortifications and stationed an 
army, for what purpose it would be hard to tell. 
The King of Abyssinia went down from his cool 
capital, 9,000 feet high, to drive the Italians away. 
As soon as he struck the hot desert, he very 
sensibly returned, without waiting to strike a blow. 
He probably concluded wisely, not to do what the 
burning elements were doing for him. 

One night we had a wind from the Arabian 
desert, that covered the deck of our ship visibly 
with fine dust, although the shore was more than 
fifty miles away. We had to breathe the hot dust, 
which burned in the lungs like flame. In the red 
dawn, ship and passengers were ruby-gray with the 
shower of infinitely fine particles blown from the 
rainless land beyond the watery horizon. 

Just two months earlier I was at the North 
Cape, enjoying the midnight sun and the cool 
air. The transition to the Red Sea, over which 
the heavens were like molten brass, whose waters 
were hot under the blaze of a volcanic sun, whose 
shores were ablaze with sandy deserts and naked 



AROUND THE WORLD. 451 

porphyry rocks, was simply terrible. A dozen 
second-class passengers were overtaken with sun- 
stroke, all of whom were saved by the skill and 
energy of two young physicians, recent graduates 
In medicine, who were going out to Australia to 
seek their professional fortune. The faces of all 
on board wore a look of anguish and foreboding. 
The wrecks strewn on the reefs around the islands, 
among which we were passing, filled the imagin- 
ation with pictures of suffering : we were making 
an appropriate exit from the Red Sea through 
"the Gate of Tears." 



452 A WINDING JOUENEY 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



RUN of ninety miles brought us to Aden, 

where it is hotter, if possible, than in the 

"• Red Sea. The ship lay there long enough 

to take on 2,000 tons of coal ; sufficient for a 

voyage of more than 6,000 miles, across the 

Indian Ocean. 

Aden is a city of about 35,000 inhabitants, on 
a peninsula of the same name running out into 
the sea at the south-west angle of Arabia. The 
town is built in the crater of an extinct volcano. 
The peninsula^ contains about twenty square miles, 
and was doubtless formed by a volcano of sub- 
marine origin. A series of hills, on the portion 
of the peninsula projecting farthest into the Gulf 
of Aden, reach an elevation of 1,700 feet. A low 
sandy tract connects the elevated portion with the 
mainland. The city, the adjacent desert country, 
and the sea are indescribably hot. It seemed as 
if an eruption from the pent-up fires in the earth 
would cool the air; at all events could not make 
it hotter. 

This "Emporium Romanum'" was known to 
Pliny and other writers of antiquity. It was once 



ABOUND THE WOELD. . 453 

the chief mart of Asiatic trade. The everlasting 
Chinese had commerce there. Marco Polo and 
other voyagers of the middle ages told marvelous 
stories of its splendor and riches. The indefatigable 
Venetians brought precious goods from the East 
by the way of Aden. The place fell into the 
hands of the insatiable British in 1839. -^ ship 
wrecked on the Arabian coast the year previous, 
the passengers of which were plundered and ill- 
treated, afforded the occasion for acquiring the 
city and the peninsula on which it stands. A treaty 
was at first formed with a feeble sultan, who ceded 
Aden by way of restitution for injury done to the 
passengers of the wrecked ship. The treaty, how- 
ever, had to be enforced by arms. Fortifications 
were built, and strongly garrisoned. This strong- 
hold, near the entrance to the Red Sea, occupies 
a place similar to that of Gibraltar at the mouth 
of the Mediterranean. 

Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Aden, give the English 
command of the great highway of commerce 
between the Atlantic and Indian oceans, between 
the West and the East. Yet, strangely enough, 
some Englishman, now and then, comes forward, 
in a London newspaper, to demonstrate, in his 
own opinion, why the British government should 
abandon its fortresses on this route, and rely on 
the long voyage by the way of the Cape, not only 
for commerce with Australia' and Asia, but also 
tor the defense of India. Among the advocates 
for giving up Gibraltar, Malta, the Suez Canal, 



454 A WINDING JOUENEY 

and Aden, were the late General Gordon and his 
brother H. VV. Gordon. I reproduce here a 
trenchant answer to the "giving up" policy, by- 
Sir Samuel W. Baker, in a communication to the 
London Times, not because I wish particularly to 
endorse his views, but because his communication 
admirably supplements my account of the journey 
made through the Mediterranean and Red Seas, 
and clearly points out, from a British naval stand- 
point, the national significance of the route to the 
East by way of the Suez Canal : 

''The year 1869 witnessed the completion of a great 
undertaking — the opening of the Suez Canal. The inde- 
fatigable promoter, M. de Lesseps, triumphed over all 
difficulties, natural and political, including the passive 
opposition of England to the important operation which 
was supposed to rivet the claims of France to predominant 
influence in Egypt. A vast crowd, embracing many members 
of royal families in Europe, assembled at the invitation of 
the great Khedive Ismail upon the banks of the canal, to 
grace the inauguration of this thin silver line which severed 
the isthmus, and thus connected the hitherto parted seas 
of East and "West ; Africa was separated from Asia. 

''The commercial world quickly perceived the advantages 
of the new route. An immense development of the steam 
mercantile marine was the immediate result, and the Eed 
Sea became the ackuoAvledged channel or highway for 
European commerce towards the East. England, who had 
been hostile to the undertaking, became a shareholder to the 
extent of four millions sterling (now worth about twelve 
millions), and at the present time we represent three-fourths 
of the tonnage which annually passes through the Suez 
Canal. 

"We are now informed by certain authorities that the 



AROUND THE WOELD. 455 

canal is a mistake, that tlie Cape of Good Hope is the only 
safe and dependable route for the decayed manhood of 
England, who cannot protect the Suez Canal in time of war, 
who cannot show their pale faces in the Mediterranean, who 
cannot defend Malta against an enemy ; and therefore we 
are advised to give up Malta in time of peace rather than 
have to surrender it with a loss of prestige in time of war, for 
fall it must if the French fleet were at large in the Mediter- 
ranean while ours was at Gibraltar. 

^' Every individual has a right to his opinion, and the 
bewildered public who have only heard of the canal and of 
the Cape of Good Hope route may be perplexed at the contra- 
dictory opinions that are expressed by those who are supposed 
to be personally experienced. I have been round the Cape 
to Ceylon, and I have traveled overland frequently via the 
Isthmus of Suez long before a railway was contemplated, 
when caravans crossed the desert from Cairo. I have also 
passed through the canal so many times that I could not 
immediately recall the number. My own experience would 
lead me to shun the Cape route at any time and to secure the 
canal route at all times. 

^'It may be argued that the necessities of war alter the 
conditions of the voyage, and that the route to the Cape will 
be secure, while the route through the Mediterranean would 
be full of risks, in the event of a war with France. 

"I reply that both routes must be rendered secure by 
England, and that our present occupation of Egypt is simply 
ridiculous, unless our object is the protection of the Suez 
Canal. Eather than yield the protection of that canal to 
another power, or even abandon it to the chances and risks 
of Egyptian protection, I would make it a casus belli, and 
confront all adversaries with all the power of Great and 
Greater Britain. Every colony would join the mother 
country in the struggle, from Australia to Ceylon, to pre- 
serve the passage that would be fatal to their interests, and 
even to their existence, should the Suez Canal fall to the 
possession of a hostile power. 



456 A WINDING JOURNEY 

''Those who argue that England should abandon the Suez 
Canal in favor of the Cape route are simply advocating a 
policy of retrogression, forgetting that if we return to the 
old Atlantic route the enemy will have the advantage of the 
canal, which the entire civilized world has accepted as 
the natural channel towards the East. If, therefore, we 
leave the Suez Canal in the hands of the French, what would 
be the use of Aden"? The same authority who advocates 
the evacuation of Malta in time of peace would suggest the 
abandonment of Aden. If we cannot hold the Mediterranean 
in time of war, with Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, and Port Said 
as coaling stations, how could we hold Aden, only four days' 
steaming from Suez, should a French fleet be in possession 
of the canal, with Suez as a base of operations for supplies'? 
Aden could be blockaded by a hostile squadron without hope 
of relief, as the French would concentrate any naval force 
required, without risk of interruption, having the Mediter- 
ranean, Suez Canal, and the Eed Sea entirely in their own 
hands. Aden would be starved out. Even now it is 
dependent uidou steam condensers for a supply of water, as 
the tanks are in a chronic state of exhaustion. These strong- 
holds depend upon our maritime superiority, and would be 
worthless should any power secure a naval ascendancy. 

"It is a common error when discussing the relative 
strength of navies to ignore the enormous importance -of 
coaling stations. Eed hot arguments are introduced pro and 
con certain classes of vessels, while the great fact is ignored 
that all the navies of the world would be useless should there 
be a lack of fuel. The great maritime power must possess 
an unbroken line of coaling stations throughout all the 
commercial highways which connect our colonies ; those 
stations must be adequately fortified. England alone pos- 
sesses such coal depots throughout the globe, and France 
or any other power would be discovered helpless in time 
of war, should our fleets be handled with the dexterity 
which gained for England the renown that must always 
be upheld. 



AKOUND THE "V^OELD. 457 

" If Malta and Cyprus together with Egypt were given 
up, who would be the new tenant *? We might as well give 
up Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Ireland, 
India, or any other valuable and indispensable portion of 
the empire, but the month of our evacuation would find 
France firmly planted in our abandoned boots with spurs 
that would be used against her retreating adversary. 

"It is a fallacy to suppose that the possession of Gibraltar 
prevents the ingress or egress of an enemy ; a fleet can pass 
the straits during the night without being perceived, if lights 
are extinguished, and should the argument be pressed, that 
our evacuation of the Mediterranean would leave our fleets 
free for home defence, how could we prevent an enemy from 
using the Straits of Gibraltar, even should he be clearly 
distinguished when passing through, unless we had a 
powerful fleet watching the narrow passage*? 

"^Giving up,' has unfortunately become a policy of our 
decadence, and the world knows it. The moment that some 
grave difficulty appears to thwart our influence, we prepare 
ourselves to yield, instead of to resist. The Transvaal, Can- 
dahar, to say nothing of a retreat from Suakin and the 
Soudan, the case of the Alabama, and such ancient history^ 
have impressed the minds of foreigners with the belief that 
England will certainly yield to pressure, provided that such 
pressure shall be boldly and determinedly exerted. We are 
therefore pressed to evacuate EgyiDt, and the external force is 
aided by those of our own countrymen in our midst who 
propose to give up Malta-! Some years ago a distinguished 
admiral in your columns advocated the abandonment of 
Gibraltar ! 

"All these authorities are entitled to a hearing, and their 
arguments deserve attention as exhibiting the peculiar con- 
stitution of certain minds which act as brakes upon the 
wheels of progress, and thereby tend to safeguard the empire 
from rash extension. On the other hand there can be little 
doubt that a nation which has become great through the force 
of arms can never safely retreat from strategical positions 



458 A WINDING JOITENEY 

(which would assuredly be occupied by the enemy) without a 
loss of reputation;, to be followed by contempt. If England 
separates from Ireland through the pressure of discontent ; if 
she retreats from Egypt from the fear of France ; if she gives 
up one inch of her possessions in the Mediterranean because 
she is afraid to maintain them by her guns ; if she yields the 
passage of the Suez Canal to her adversary, while her fleets 
slink furtively into the obscurity of the Atlantic, to escape 
from the danger of a French attack, then let her haul down 
the flag that has hitherto ruled the waves, and cease to boast 
that 'the sun never sets upon her might.' " 

We rounded Cape Guardafui, the most eastern 
point of Africa, 376 miles beyond Aden. We 
coasted nearly all day along the Somal country, 
which lies east of the Galla country. The latter 
lies east and south of Abyssinia, and is of immense 
exent. We were sometimes within gunshot distance 
of the Somal shore. In some places, there was a 
wide strip of flat land bordering the sea ; in other 
places, the bald cliffs of naked rock rose almost 
perpendicular from the water's edge. Europeans 
have penetrated a short distance inland, from the 
northern shore, in a few places ; otherwise the 
country has not been explored. The inhabitants 
are tall, agile, slight, with woolly hair, yet with lips 
and noses more Grecian than Hamitic. They are 
darker than the Arabs, who have migrated to the 
country in considerable numbers since the fifteenth 
century. The Somal as well as the Galla people 
are very different from the negroes. It is said that 
the interior of the Somal country is a vast grassy 
plateau, where antelopes, zebras, and gazelles roam 



AROUND THE WORLD. 459 

in herds, where the elephant, ostrich, and giraffe 
are found in great numbers. The inhabitants are 
fanatical Mohamedans and hostile to strangers. 
If a ship were wrecked on any of these shores, 
except immediately about Aden, the passengers 
would be plundered and subjected to the worst 
ill-treatment. 

Beyond Cape Guardafui, we passed the island 
of Socotra, which is eighty miles long and twenty 
broad. The borders are unfertile, but the interior 
is a pastoral table-land, 800 feet above the sea 
level, from which granite ridges rise to the height 
of nearly 5,000 feet. There are about 5,000 
inhabitants, whose chief occupation is raising flocks 
and herds. They also cultivate the aloe plant, 
and gather a commercial product from the dragon's- 
blood gum tree. The British control the island, 
since 1876, by treaty with the Sultan, to whom 
they grant a subsidy. 

After passing Socotra we saw no land again, 
until we approached the western shore of Australia. 
We only saw two ships on the long voyage. The 
steamers of the Orient line usually stop at Diego 
Garcia to coal, but we sailed farther north, along 
the line of the equator. The vertical sun was hot 
enough, but the tropics in the Indian Ocean are 
less oppressive than in the Red Sea and the Gulf 
of Aden. 

At about the one hundreth degree of eastern 
longtitude, far east of India, we turned rather 
abruptly south and encountered a heavy gale of 



460 A WINDING JOURNEY 

three days' duration. Great billows evidently rolling 
from the Antarctic Ocean, over 10,000 miles of 
open sea, tossed our steamer about like a plaything. 
There seemed to be no real danger, yet the 
constant rolling and pitching of the huge ship 
made life on "the ocean wave" very unpleasant. 
I was thrown from one side of the spar deck 
to the other and received a blow in the side, from 
which I have not yet fully recovered. Several 
passengers received bruises which, fortunately, were 
rather painful than dangerous. The whole voyage 
was made without a "burial at sea," either from 
accident or sickness. The winds of the Indian 
Ocean present a subject altogether too complex 
to be discussed here. 

At length we caught a glimpse of the 
bold highlands around Cape Leeuwin. Everybody 
rejoiced at the sight of land. The albatross and 
the cape-pigeon ceased their flight, and we had 
leisure to observe the constellations in the southern 
heavens. The "southern cross" is much more 
brilliant in poetry than in the sky. It required three 
days of swift sailing to cross the Great Australian 
Bight, from Cape Leeuwin to Adelaide. 

We landed at the port of Adelaide in just 
twenty-one days after leaving Aden, during which 
time the machinery of the great steamship had 
not ceased its motion. A few passengers disem- 
barked there. Several of us landed, went by 
railroad a distance of six or eight miles to the 
city of Adelaide, explored it all day long, and 



ABOUND THE WORLD. 461 

returned to the vessel at night. The next morning 
we sailed southward, along the coast, towards Mel- 
bourne, 500 miles away. The bulk of the passengers 
disembarked there. I landed in the early morning, 
spent a day there, and then went on with the 
steamer to Sydney, nearly 600 miles further, which 
we reached on the forty-eighth day from London, 
after a tedious, hot, rather uncomfortable, but very 
instructive voyage of more than 12,000 miles. 
The ship was strong and safe, the food good, the 
attendance excellent, the appointments luxurious, 
the ofificers skilled and courteous. Any discomforts 
arose simply from the inevitable conditions of a 
long sea voyage in the tropics. 

The passengers on the "Austral" lived entirely 
peaceably together during the whole voyage. The 
greatv?" , rt of them were Australians and New 
Zealanders on their return from a visit to the 
mother country during the jubilee year. From 
them I learned many things about the colonies. 
Among the passengers were nine catholic priests, 
seven nuns, a Scotch lord, an Irish member of 
parliament, several doctors and lawyers, many 
business men, a few gentlemen of leisure traveling 
for pleasure or instruction. The young people 
had their dances, concerts, games, tableaus, and 
amateur theatricals. The older ones talked politics 
a good deal. It was a strange fact that nearly all 
the Englishmen on board were liberals, while the 
colonists were inclined to toryism. Like all provin- 
cial people, they thought it was the thing to affect 



462 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the aristocratic party. Three young ladies, fine 
looking, well educated, were going out to Australia 
to be married. Like sensible girls they thought 
it better to journey alone to their future husbands 
than to compel them to lose half a year's time 
and to spend a considerable sum of money in 
going to England after them. One landed at 
Adelaide, another at Melbourne, another at Sydney, 
and all were married in a day or two after landing. 
Women all over Christendom are growing more 
helpful, more self-reliant, as they acquire more of 
their natural rights. These young British ladies 
behaved themselves with great dignity and propriety 
on the ship. Their lovers had gone bravely out 
to Australia to build homes, and their sweethearts 
bravely followed them when the proper time came. 



AHOUND THE WOELD. 463 



CHAPTER V. 



AUSTRALIA. 



'HE largest island in the world is Australia, 
' which lies between the Indian and Pacific 
Oceans, in the southern hemisphere. It is 
2,400 miles long, from east to west, and 2,000 miles 
wide from north to south. The Tropic of Capricorn 
crosses it in the middle, so that the northern half 
of it is in the torrid zone, while the southern half 
of it is in the hotter part of the temperate zone. 
The great Indian ocean beats upon its southern, 
western, and northern shores. The Pacific Ocean 
washes it on the east. It lies to the south-east of 
the continent of Asia, and about midway between 
Africa and South America. Australia, being 8,000 
miles in circumference, and containing more than 
2,000 square miles, ought to be called a continent 
and not an island. It is a world by itself, in many 
respects unlike any other country on the globe. 

The Gulf of Carpentaria notches it deep on the 
northern coast, at the 140th meridian of eastern longi- 
tude. The "Great Australian Bight" makes a 
broad indentation about midway on the southern 
shore. Spencer Gulf runs sharply inland, about 
opposite the Gulf of Carpentaria. These two gulfs 



464 A WINDING JOURNEY 

extended quite through the center of AustraHa In 
geological times, dividing it by a sea channel into 
two islands. A series of salt lakes, of which 
Torrens, Gairdner, and Eyre exceed loo miles 
in length, mark the course of this prehistoric 
channel. The island to the eastward of this 
channel was long and narrow, extending from 
Cape York, the extreme northern point of 
Australia, to Cape Howe, the extreme southern 
point. The island to the westward of this channel 
was shorter and wider, terminating at the south- 
western point in Cape Leeuwin. 

Along the northeastern shore is the Great Barrier 
Reef, from twenty to 150 miles from the mainland, 
1,200 miles in length. It is the longest coral 
reef in the world. On it the swells of the Pacific 
Ocean break in perpetual foam. Within it, the 
sea is smooth, and the navigation delightful. Else- 
where, the shore is rock-bound and navigation is 
dangerous. 

The whole interior of Australia, along the 
ancient channel between the two islands into which 
it was divided in former geological times, is low, 
level, and barren, Along the south-eastern border 
is a range of mountains, called the Australian Alps, 
the loftiest summit of which, Mount Kosciusko, is 
7,176 feet high. This range is also called the 
Warragong or Muniong Mountains. Under the 
name of the Dividing Range, it extends northward, 
parallel to the eastern border, all the way to Cape 
York. Along the Indian Ocean, on the west, there 



AROUND THE WORLD. 465 

is another belt of elevated land. The highest 
point is Mount William, near Cape Leeuwin. To 
the north of Mount William, the range has received 
the names of the Darling, Herschel, and Victoria 
Hills. Mount William is 3,600 feet high. 

Two rivers that fall into the Gulf of Carpentaria 
are navigable for a short distance from the sea. 
Otherwise Australia is entirely destitute of internal 
water-ways. In this respect, it greatly differs from 
Europe or the United States, of which it is about 
two-thirds of the extent. The largest river system, 
in fact the only large river system, of Australia, 
is that of the Murray, which rises in the long 
eastern range of mountains and runs south-westward 
to the sea. The main tributaries of the Murray, 
the Murumbidgee, the Lachlan, and the Darling, 
are perennial, but the Murray itself, in its long 
course over the arid plains, frequently dries up, in 
the hot rainless season, to a mere series of stagnant 
pools. The small rivers that flow swiftly down the 
narrow slope from the Dividing Range and the 
Australian Alps to the Pacific Ocean never dry up. 
There are no rivers in the west of especial 
importance. 

The tropical and subtropical climate is not 
only hot, but also very dry. The trade-winds, 
blowing over it from a cooler to a warmer region 
of the earth, gather more moisture than they 
impart. The moisture of the currents of air from 
the Pacific Ocean is condensed on the coast range 
of hills and mountains in eastern Australia, giving 
30 



466 A WINDING JOURNEY 

more rainfall there than elsewhere, and, conse 
quently, greater fertility. The valleys, near the* 
southern end of the range, are astonishingly rich 
in vegetation. There, in places, trees grow larger 
and taller than the famous redwoods of California. 
The interior is almost rainless. The parched, bare, 
saline soil is covered with an impenetrable " scrub " 
of prickly Acacia or bushy eucalyptus. The "gum 
trees," or different species of eucalypti, which grow 
to an enormous size in the moister places along 
the coasts, are characteristic of the Australian 
forests. All trees and shrubs in Australia are 
evergreens. There is therefore a certain sameness 
in the aspect of nature at different seasons of the 
year. Notwithstanding the somber hue of the 
evergreen forests, the abundance of flowers in 
spring enliven fields, gardens and parks, with an 
amazing wealth of coloring. The grass is green 
for a short time in spring, but soon dries up to 
a dreary yellow. Nowhere outside of northern 
Africa and south-western Asia, are the equatorial 
winds hotter or more oppressive, yet the climate 
is remarkably healthy. 

Snakes, some of them venomous, are plentiful 
in Australia. Sharks and crockodiles abound in 
all the shallow places of the sea, especially the 
tropical sea, along the shore. There is not an 
indigenous hoofed animal in all the land. It is 
the chosen country of marsupials, or animals 
that carry their young in a natural pouch, the 
kangeroo, the opossum, the bandicoot. The dingo, 



AKOUND THE WOULD. 467 

or wild dog, Is the only native carnivorous animal. 
Australia is the very paradise of birds, unrivaled 
in rich colors of plumage, in diversity of form, 
but not wonderful for song. European animals 
introduced by man, multiply rapidly and enjoy 
vigorous life. Horses are excellent. Sheep have 
become a source of great wealth. English rabbits 
have . increased to the extent of becoming the 
greatest pest of the country. 

The people found in Australia at the time of 
its discovery, belong to the ethnological group of 
the Oceanic Negroes and are the lowest of man- 
kind, even lower than the savages of Terra del 
Fuego. No efforts have been found available to 
civilize them. They have gradually diminished in 
number, till, at the present time, only 50,000 of 
them remain, mostly in the north-eastern part 
of the country. They have a certain amount of 
animal cunning, but possess no other traits of 
intelligence. These wandering blacks are formidable 
only to small parties of explorers, whom they some- 
times attack with overwhelming numbers. They 
are certain to become extinct, long before the whole 
land is settled by Europeans. 

Australia is rich in minerals. The value of the 
mineral products, including those of Tasmania, 
amounted to £321,194,038, up to the end of 1884. 
The value of the mineral raised during the year 
1885 was £7,994,729. I have no official statistics 
since that time. The amount differs but little 
f^^om year to year. Gold is the most valuable 



468 A WINDING JOURNEY 

product. Silver, coal, tin, copper, iron, antimony, 
bismuth, manganese, and some other minerals 
amount together to about the same value as gold. 
The United States alone surpass Australia in the 
productions of the precious metals. 

I omit Tasmania, the old Van Dieman's Land, 
a beautiful island a short distance south of Australia, 
from my description, for the reason that I did not 
visit it at all, and do not wish to speak of any 
place which I did not see. Smallpox was raging 
there when I was in Australia. I was not afraid 
of the disease, but it would have been impossible 
for me to get away from the island without being 
detained a long time in quarantine at any port of 
a neighboring country at which I might arrive from 
Tasmania. 

Australia is divided into five independent colonies. 
The smallest, and one of the youngest, is Victoria, 
which contains 89,000 square miles. It occupies 
the south-east corner of Australia, and is the most 
temperate in climate of all the provinces. Mel- 
bourne is the capital. The Australian Alps run 
nearly through the center of Victoria. From the 
southern watershed numerous streams flow to the 
ocean, the most important of which is the Yarra- 
Yarra, at the mouth of which stands the capital. 
Victoria is a grazing region, and produces more 
gold than any of the other colonies. In the eastern 
part, in the region called Gippsland, the soil is 
very fertile, and there grow the biggest trees in 
the world. 



ABOXJND THE WORLD. 469 

New South Wales is the oldest of the Australian 
colonies. It is situated on the southern third of 
the eastern, or Pacific, border of the country, and 
runs westward, over the Dividing Ridge, to the 
one hundred and forty-first meridian, which separates 
it from Southern Australia, so-called. It contains 
300,000 square miles, and is about five times larger 
than England and Wales. Sydney, on the southern 
shore of Port Jackson, one of the finest harbors 
in the world, is the capital. Mount Kosciusko, the 
highest point of Australia, is in New South Wales. 
Blue Mountains, Liverpool Range, New England 
Range, are names of districts in the highlands of 
the interior, where the climate is salubrious, the 
soil fertile, and the scenery picturesque. Lake 
George, a considerable inland body of water, is 
2,130 feet above the level of the sea, and is a 
pleasant resort. Swift streams flow from the steeper 
eastern slope of the mountains, through exceedingly 
fertile valleys, into the Pacific Ocean. The broad 
western slope, called the Riverina, containing many 
great sheep "runs," sends down lazy rivers, to be 
lost in the Murray. New South Wales is rich in 
coal and various mineral products, Maize grows 
abundantly and might be profitably utilized in 
feeding swine and cattle, as in our north-western 
States. 

Queensland occupies all the Pacific side of 
Australia, north of New South Wales, to Cape 
York, and the eastern shore of the Gulf of Car- 
pentaria. It contains 669,000 square miles, and is 



470 A WINDING JOUENEY 

about eight times larger than Great Britain. It is 
rich in mineral productions of various kinds. The 
climate is tropical, and the soil fertile. There are 
no finer sugar lands in the world than in this 
province. The only difficulty in the way of abun- 
dant production is the obtaining of labor to harvest 
and grind the cane. European laborers cannot 
endure the hot climate, and, as we shall see farther 
on, the policy of the colonies is against the 
importation of Mongolian or black labor. The 
capital is Brisbane. Queensland produces gold, 
copper, tin, iron and mercury. It has a north- 
western and a south-western watershed on the 
continental side of the mountains, which bear vast 
forests of timber, ending in arid steppes on the 
inland border. This colony contains within itself 
the resources of a vast empire, as large as Germany, 
Italy and France. 

South Australia should be called Central 
Australia. The name is misleading. It lies west 
of Queensland and farther north than Victoria 
and part of New South Wales. It runs through 
the arid interior of Australia, from Spencer Gulf 
and the Great Australian Bight to the Gulf of 
Carpentaria. It contains 904,000 square miles of 
territory, and is nearly as large as the whole of the 
United States east of the Mississippi River. There 
is some fertile soil in the southern portion along 
the Flinders Range of mountains, and some in 
the region of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but the 
vast interior is a saline desert, without any habit- 



AEOUND THE WOULD. 471 

able oases, so far as revealed by scanty exploration. 
It lies in great part in the depression, through 
which ran the ancient sea channel. Adelaide is 
the capital. The mineral wealth of this colony is 
large. It contains some of the best copper mines 
in the world. There are also mines of gold, silver, 
and bismuth. 

West Australia, 976,000 square miles in extent, 
occupies the whole of the vast and only partially 
explored, region west of the 129th meridian. 
Along the maritime slope of the hills in the south- 
west there is some grazing land, occupied as sheep 
walks. The winds of the Indian Ocean seem to 
blow sterility over the arid, desolate region, which 
has few attractions for the settler or the traveler. 

The Portugese navigators saw the coast of Aus- 
tralia as early as 1554. The Dutch followed the Por- 
tugese and gave to the immense continental island 
the name of New Holland. Along a considerable 
portion of its 8,000 miles of coast sailed Dampier, 
Carteret, and Hollis, with the enterprise of English 
navigators, but they failed to give to the world 
any definite knowledge of the country. In 1770 
Captain Cook sailed through Torres Strait, which 
separates Australia from New Guinea, and defined 
the northern and eastern coast. It was a gener- 
ation later before Bass Strait, separating Van 
Diemen's Land from Australia, was discovered by 
the navigator whose name it bears. A century 
ago, in 1787, the British sent Captain Arthur 
Phillip in the ship Sirius, with six transports and 



472 A WINDING JOUENEY 

three store-ships, to plant a colony of convicts at 
Botany Bay. He arrived safely in 1788. The 
colony was transferred to Sydney Cove, where the 
capital of New South Wales now stands. It is 
not necessary to recount here the early vicissitudes 
of this British penal colony. In 1821 the popula- 
tion of that settlement amounted to 29,783, of 
which three-fourths were convicts. Up to that time 
there was no other settlement in all Australia, 
although there was a penal colony in Van Dieman's 
Land, now Tasmania. It is well enough to 
remember that all the substantial growth of Aus- 
tralia has been during the siicty years since that 
time. In 1839 New South Wales practically ceased 
to be a penal colony. Ten years later Mr. Glad- 
stone, then Secretary of State for the colonies, 
dispatched a cargo of convicts to Sydney, the 
landing of which the inhabitants would not. permit. 
The growth of this mother colony will be indicated 
farther on. 

Victoria was the Port Phillip District of New 
South Wales previous to 1851, when it was made 
an independent colony. In 1803, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Collins arrived in the District of Port Phillip, with 
two convict ships, for the purpose of forming a 
penal colony. At the end of three months they 
abandoned the region as "unfit for the habitation 
of civilized men." This judgment was confirmed by 
a second experiment in 1826. Mr. Edmund Henty 
went over from Van Dieman's Land to Victoria, 
in 1834, and was followed by John Batman 'and 



ABOUND THE WOELD. 473 

John Pascoe Fawkner the next year, in search of 
land for grazing, and to engage in whaHng. They 
were followed by others who thought well of the 
country. The name of Melbourne was first given 
to the site on which the capital now stands, in 
1837, by Sir Richard Rourke. I found people 
in my second visit to Melbourne who remembered 
seeing flocks of sheep grazing where the principal 
streets of the city now are. On the first of July, 
1 85 1, the new colony of Victoria commenced a 
separate existence. That same year the gold fields 
of Ballarat and Mount Alexander were discovered. 
In less than forty years Victoria has grown to 
be the most populous colony in Australia, and 
Melbourne to be a city of nearly 350,000 
inhabitants. 

The pioneer settlement of South Australia dates 
from 1836. A colonization association entered upon 
a scheme there which soon collapsed by mismanage- 
ment. The way, however, was opened for settlers 
of a better class. When the gold fever broke out 
in Victoria it denuded South Australia of • its 
laboring population, but it created a sudden demand 
for breadstuffs, by which the new colony profited. 
In 1852, more than £2,000,000 were sent from 
Melbourne to Adelaide, to pay for wheat, flour, 
and other agricultural products. 

Queensland was the Moreton Bay District of 
New South Wales till 1859, when it was erected 
into a separate colony. Brisbane, the capital, was 
first visited by a surveyor from Sydney in 1823. 



474 A WINDma JOUENEY 

Subsequently, the first settlements were made by 
squatters, in search of pasture for their sheep. 

Western Australia, the feeblest of all the colonies, 
was one of the first to receive a settlem.ent. In 
fact, the first non-penal, or free, colonists brought 
to Australia were landed at the mouth of Swan 
River in 1829. The settlers had no capital to 
develop the country. There was no market for 
what they did produce. They struggled on for 
some years and, in 1850, petitioned the home 
government to make their settlement a penal 
colony. Ticket-of-leave men supplied the demand 
for labor, and the money spent for convicts brought 
a sickly prosperity. Under the influence of the 
other colonies, which desired to free the whole of 
Australia from the disgrace of being a receptacle 
for convicts, transportation to this colony ceased 
in 1868. Owing to the poor soil, the arid climate, 
and the moral stigma attaching to felons. West 
Australia has not prospered. 

According to the latest ofificial statistics within 
my reach, the close of 1886, the population of the 
different Australian provinces was as follows : Vic- 
toria, 1,020,502; New South Wales, 1,001,966; 
South Australia, 316,660; Queensland, 330,924; 
West Australia, 35,186; total, 2,705,238. There 
is considerable excess of males, as in all new 
countries; to every 100 males, the number of 
females is 83 and a fraction. 

The number of births in the whole population, 
during the year 1885, was 89,936, being 35 per 



AEOTJND THE WORLD. 475 

cent. ; the number of deaths 40,468, being a Httle 
less than 16 per cent. This indicates a degree 
of pubhc health not reached by any country of 
Europe. 

During the same period, the excess of immigration 
over emigration was 60,442. 

During the same year, the total revenue from 
taxation, crown lands, railways, post and telegraphs, 
and other sources, was: In New South Wales, 
£7,548,593; in Queensland, £2,840,960; in South 
Australia, £2,309,592; in Victoria, £6,290,361; in 
West Australia, £323,213; in all the provinces, 
£19,348,719. The revenue j)er capitd wdiS greatest 
in West Australia, and least in Victoria. 

The public expenditures during 1885, exclusive 
of expenditures from loans on railways, post and 
telegraphs, interest and expenses of public debt, 
and other services, were : in New South Wales, 
£8,573,288; in Queensland, £2,875,609; in South 
Australia £2,454,608; in Victoria, £6,140,356; in„ 
West Australia, £308,849 ; in the whole country, 
£20,352,910; the largest expenditure per capita, 
was in Queensland; the smallest in Victoria. 

The expenditure from loans, during the same 
year, on railways, water supply, and other services, 
was: In New South Wales, £3,896,145; in Queens- 
land, £1,711,724; in South Australia, £1,136,446; 
in Victoria, £1,153,065 ; in West Australia, £162,992 ; 
in all, £8,060,372. 

The public debt, at the same time, for railways, 
water supply, etc., was: in New South Wales, 



47.6 A WINDING JOURNEY 

£35,564,259; in Queensland, .£19,320,850; in South 
Australia, £17,020,900; in Victoria, £28,628,588; 
in West Australia, £1,2^8,100; in all the provinces, 
£101,822,697. It should be stated that the 
provinces own the railroads in their respective 
jurisdictions, the value of which should be deducted 
from' the public debt. In fact, the public debt 
was largely increased for building railroads, the 
net income of which to a great extent pays the 
interest. For this reason, although the indebt- 
edness appears large, the financial condition of 
the colonies is excellent. 

There are at the present time, about 8,000 miles 
of railways in Australia, constructed at a total cost 
of about £70,000,000. The average net receipts 
to capital cost is about three and a half per cent. 

The value of imports, during 1885, was 
£54,031,084; and the value of exports was 
£43,419,854. The shipping returns for the same 
year show 13,968 vessels, and 10,697,493 tons. 

The postal returns, for the same year, show 
99,788,713 letters and post-cards, and 57,743,768 
newspapers carried through the mails. The receipts 
were £832,595, and the expenditures, £1,293,751. 

In the same year, there were in all Australia 
31,215 miles of telegraph in operation, carrying 
6,303,205 messages, at a cost of £453,512. The 
telephone is in operation in the principal cities, 
but statistics are wanting. 

Up to the close of 1885, 88,271,211 acres of 
public lands had been alienated, for which the total 



AROUND THE WORLD. . 477 

sum of £51,287,525 had been received. Still in 
the hands of the governments were 1,884,561,920 
acres. The price of government lands in Australia 
is considerably higher than in this country, and 
there are no homestead laws. The colonies have 
not thrown away the public domain on railroad 
and other corporations, as we have done. 

The number of state schools in Australia is 
4,868 ; the number of teachers, 9,444 ; the number 
of scholars, 530,403. The net cost to the state 
for schools, in all the provinces, was, in 1885, 
i£i, 474,526. The system of education is compulsory 
and secular in all the colonies. Public instruction 
is free in Victoria and Queensland. In the other 
colonies fees are charged, but are entirely or par- 
tially remitted, in case of inability to pay them. 
The prescribed school age differs in different locali- 
ties — in Victoria it is from six to fifteen ; in New 
South Wales, six to fourteen ; in Queensland, six 
to twelve ; in South Australia, seven to thirteen. 
There are three Universities in Australia — one at 
Sidney, one at Melbourne, one at Adelaide. Can- 
didates for admission are exempted from all religious 
tests. All degrees conferred are of co-ordinate 
rank with degrees conferred by the Universities of 
the United Kingdom. 

The agricultural products of Australia, for the 
year 1885-61, were 26,916,400 bushels of wheat; 
5,084,197 bushels of oats; 1,699,074 bushels of 
barley ; 6,093,647 bushels of maize ; 848,986 bushels 
of other cereals; 245,163 tons of potatoes; 969,666 



478 A WINDING JOURNEY 

tons of hay; and 2,225,618 gallons of wine. The 
wines of Australia are about the same in quality 
as the wines of California. They promise to be 
so abundant that it will not be profitable to 
adulterate them. The use of pure native wines 
is an important step towards temperance. I have 
never tasted better bread than that of Australia, 
made from the wheat of the country. 

Domestic animals have increased with great 
rapidity in Australia. According to the latest 
statistics, there are in the whole country 1,111,814 
horses; 7,230,891 cattle; 65,896,190 sheep; and 
692,464 swine. In the year 1886, 84,367 bales of 
wool were shipped to London, and 10,737 hales 
directly to America. 

The most numerous denomination of Christians 
in Australia is the Church of England. Then 
come the Roman Catholics, followed successively 
by the Presbyterians, the Wesleyan Methodists, 
and the Congregationalists. 

These summaries of statistics show, more 
eloquently than words, the developement of the 
great Australian continent during the last fifty 
years. The annual revenue raised by the colonies 
equals that of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzer- 
land, Portugal and Greece. The production of the 
people, per capita^ exceeds that of any other country 
in the world. Another century of unobstructed 
progress will carry Australia beyond the mother 
country, in population, accumulated capital, and 
income. 



AEOUND THE WOKLD. 479 

The colonies are entirely independent of one 
another, in government, laws and administration. 
They have no union, like that of the Canadian 
provinces, under the Dominion. An "Act to 
constitute a Federal Council of Australia," passed 
by Parliament August 14, 1885, numbered 48 and 49 
Vic, cap. 60, amounts to nothing by way of author- 
itative union, for it is left optional with each colony 
to accept or retain its provisions. It does not 
amount to even the loosest form of a federation. 
No colony is in any way bound by the acts of 
the Council. 

Responsible government was conferred upon 
all of the Australian colonies in 1855, except 
West Australia, which still remains a crown colony. 
The form of government is substantially the same 
in all of them. Each has its legislature, or parlia- 
ment as they call it, consisting of two branches. 
The more numerous branch is elected by manhood 
suffrage, and for a short period. The less numerous 
branch is elected for a longer period and by a 
somewhat restricted suffrage. In New South Wales 
the upper house is appointed by the governor, and 
the tenure of office is for life. The governors are 
appointed by the crown. They perform the usual 
duties of the executive in elective governments. 
The system is really an imitation of the home 
government, with a more liberal extension of the 
franchise. Excellent laws have been enacted to 
secure freedom of voting and to protect the people 
against fraud in counting ballots. 



480 A WINDING JOUENEY 

The method of voting in the AustraHan provinces 
is worthy of imitation in all countries that are 
blessed with elective government. The essential 
feature of the method is that the ballot is 
regarded as an official document, which the State 
alone prints and takes charge of. The ballot, 
printed by the State, contains the names of all 
candidates for the various offices to be filled at 
an election. The ballot also contains a blank for 
each office, in which the voter can insert the 
name of any one, not on the list, for whom he 
wishes to vote. An official inspector of election 
hands a ballot to the elector when he presents 
himself at the polling-place to exercise his right 
of suffrage. The elector then enters a private 
room, or stall, and there, secure from the observa- 
tion and influence of any outsider, places a cross 
opposite to the name of the candidate for each 
office for whom he wishes to vote. He then folds 
it and hands it to a sworn inspector of election 
to place in the ballot-box. Only the officially 
printed ballot is received. Fraud is absolutely 
impossible. Intimidation is wholly prevented, and 
to a great extent bribery. Quiet and order are 
easily maintained at the polls. Elections are 
simplified and their legitimate expenses are reduced. 
The creatures known in the United States as 
"strikers," "heelers," "workers at the polls," "ticket 
and slip peddlers," are unknown in Australia. 
There is no occupation at an Australian election 
for hired bullies and bribers. One or two of our 



AROUND THE WOULD. 481 

States have adopted the method and, it is to be 
hoped, all the , rest will soon „ follow the example. 
At Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, or 
other political centres, the illiterate voter is accom-. 
panied by a sworn officer to his retiring place 
who reads the ballot for him. The ignorant 
citizen is thus protected from trickery and knavish 
meddlers and intruders. The vital point is that 
the ballot is made a legal document which none 
but the State is allowed to print, under severe 
penalty. 

In Australia, only the occupation of the 
candidate is printed with his name on the official 
ballot. In America, citizens would doubtless be 
better pleased to have the politics of the candidate 
printed, instead of his occupation. Our younger 
Australian brethren are the most practical of men, 
and we may wisely copy from them, in its essential 
features, a measure that will save us from the 
disgraceful bribery, bull-dozing, cathauling, and 
power of employers in our elections, that are 
rapidly undermining our faith in democratic 
institutions. 

The Australians have never encouraged miscel- 
laneous immigration. They welcome the industrious, 
the thrifty, the intelligent, from the mother country 
and other lands, but reject paupers and criminals. 
They had enough to do with convicts in the early set- 
tlement of the country, and grew wise by their experi- 
ence. They have never gone into the "asylum" 
business, like the people of the United States. At 
31 



482 A WINDING JOURNEY 

an earlier period a few Chinese were admitted to 
the country, and those who are now there receive 
humane usage, but it has become the settled policy 
of all the colonies to keep them away, although 
their labor would be especially useful and profitable 
on the sugar plantations of Queensland. In defiance 
of England, New South Wales has recently sent 
back a cargo of Mongolians, brought there in 
accordance with treaty provisions between China 
and Great Britain. The colonists do not propose 
that their own laws shall be nullified by the foreign 
office at London. 

I spent some time at Sydney and Melbourne, 
and crossed the country twice between the two 
cities. My opportunities were fair for observing 
the laboring classes, both in the centres of popula- 
tion and in the country towns. In no land have 
I seen the toilers, the real wealth-creators, so well 
clothed, so well fed, so well housed, or th^ir general 
condition in life so good. The common price of a 
day's work of eight hours, by the ordinary laborer, 
is eieht shillinors sterling — about two dollars. The 
price is the same in all the colonies. The laborers 
can really control an election, and they understand 
well their own interest. Let a member of any one 
of the colonial parliaments bring in a measure, or 
even vote for a measure, detrimental to the laboring 
class, and he will be slaughtered at the polls, what- 
ever may be his politics. The laborers do not 
propose that paupers shall be brought to Australia 
from Europe, or Mongols from China, or black 



AROUND THE WORLD. 483 

Kanakas from the neighboring islands, to cheapen 
the price of their own toil. The new land is for 
them, as well as for the capitalist, and they are 
determined to keep it. Comfort being generally 
diffused, there is nothing on which the destructive 
and criminal forms of socialism can feed and grow. 
The philanthropist can feast his eyes on the pleasing 
spectacle of requited toil everywhere in Australia. 
No man is there enslaved by the dreadful law of 
necessity. It is worth a journey to the other side 
of the g-lobe to behold the blessed sig-ht. Certain 
great industries are kept back by the dearness of 
labor, but it is of infinitely more consequence that 
communities of freemen should flourish, than that 
sugar plantations and copper mines should prosper. 
What the future of the Australian colonies is 
to be, no man can fortell with certainty. They 
are very much in the condition of the American 
colonies before the Revolution, with chanee of 
time, circumstances, and the political progress of 
the whole civilized world during the last century. 
The people are very loyal to the mother country 
and to the British government, yet they are very 
jealous of their rights, and very quick to resent 
any encroachments, or even neglect. Their temper 
was very quickly ablaze when England allowed the 
Germans to seize part of New Guinea, on their 
northern border, and their wrath knew no bounds 
when it seemed probable that the French would 
establish a penal colony, a "moral cesspool" as 
they ferociously termed it, under their noses in 



484 A WINDING JOURNEY 

the Hebrides. I told many leading Australians, 
whose acquaintance I had the honor to make, 
that, in my judgment, their colonies would never 
be consolidated into one strong continental nation, 
except under the pressure of a great common 
danger; that they could be fused into an organic 
whole, only in the heat of dreadful battle with a 
common foe ; that as, under no circumstances, 
the mother country would attempt to compel them 
to obedience, repeating the error of the American 
Revolutionary War, they must expect the pressure 
to come from some foreign power, like Germany 
or France, when left alone by the home govern- 
ment to struggle for their own existence, and that, 
in the absence of such a grievous, yet wholesome 
and formative conflict, they might expect to diverge 
more and more among themselves, to become 
contiguous States, frequently at war with one 
another, plunging into a series of evils far more 
costly in the aggregate than one mighty foreign 
war at the outset, such a war as creates a nation 
and gives it a lasting organic life. They generally 
answered me by expressing a hope that such a 
result might be realized in the peaceful way of 
federation. I could see lying before the Australians 
the same great and perilous problems with which 
our fathers wrestled with matchless prudence and 
wisdom, and could not help recommending them 
to study the history of the formation of our 
government, and to profit by the experience of 
their brethren on the western continent, who had 



AEOUND THE WOELD. 485 

found attempts at federation a dangerous delusion. 
A nation can rest only on organic laws, which, 
by holding the purse and the sword, it has the 
power to enforce. I love and esteem the Austra- 
lians, and they freely permitted me to talk to them 
with directness and earnestness. 

The Australians are an especially practical people. 
At one time the kangaroos became a pest, devouring 
pasturage that the increasing number of 'sheep made 
more and more valuable. It was discovered that 
the kanearoo skin made excellent leather for some 
purposes. Since that time the beautiful animals 
have been hunted for their skins and are likely to 
be exterminated in a few years. 

The English rabbit has multiplied until it has 
become the great pest of the country. A reward 
of twenty-five thousand pounds has been offered 
by the government for some successful method of 
exterminating them. Ferrets have been tried, but 
they increase with less rapidity than the rabbits, 
and prefer the • blood of rodents. It has been 
proposed to innoculate the rabbit with an infectious 
disease called the* "scab," but the commission having 
the matter in charge, fear the destructive disease 
might be conveyed to sheep and have rejected the 
proposition. M. Pasteur has recently proposed to 
destroy the rabbits by conveying to them "chicken 
cholera." It would doubtless be effective, but the 
cautious and practical Australians have determined 
to test the plan by confining some rabbits and 
various domestic animals on a small island, at a 



486 A WINDING JOURNEY 

safe distance from the shore, in order to ascertain 
whether the rabbits will convey the disease to 
sheep, pigs, cattle, etc. The offer is still open to 
all the world, and there is a chance for some 
ingenious American to make a considerable fortune. 

The people possess incomparable executive 
ability. I was in Melbourne at the time of the 
great horse-race, called the "Melbourne cup," the 
greatest race in the world, even greater than the 
English " Derby." The course is about four miles 
from the city, in the basin of an amphitheater of 
hills, from which several hundred thousand spec- 
tators can see the race without obstructinof one 
another. On the day of the race, a railroad 
carried to the ground, in an hour and a half, 135,000 
passengers, without confusion, without crowding, 
without accident. The betting was estimated at 
not less than £5,000,000, and yet there was no 
conflict, no breach of the peace. 

Sydney is a beautiful city, of about 300,000 
inhabitants, including the suburbs. Its harbor, 
opening out of the Pacific Ocean by a safe channel 
two miles wide, with its deep fiords running far 
and wide into the high rocky shore, containing 
200 miles of navigable waters, with its villa-studded 
islands and peninsulas, is perhaps the finest in all 
the world. A magnificent park, botanical and 
zoological gardens, elegant theatres, imposing public 
buildings, costly churches, massive warehouses, 
sumptous residences, hospitals and institutions of 
learning, attractive suburbs, well-appointed clubs 



AROUND THE WORLD. 487 

and refined society, make Sidney a charming place 
of sojourn for the weary traveler. The climate 
is hot during the long summer, but I was there 
in the sweet Australian spring, when the air 
is balmy and the endless acres of flowers are 
gorgeously blooming. 

Melbourne is not more than half as old as 
Sydney, yet it has 50,000 more inhabitants. 
Chicago, in the United States, is its only rival in 
rapidity of growth. It is quite equal to San Fran- 
cisco, in wealth, in solidity and splendor of 
buildings, in business activity. Collins street in 
Melbourne is one of the finest in the world, quite 
equal to any two miles of Broadway. Its public 
library of 130,000 volumes, its university, its exposi- 
tion building, its new Houses of Parliament, its 
Inns of Court, its observatory, its unrivaled 
botanical gardens, and other institutions, are, 
considering the age of the city, actually phenomenal. 

The press of Australia is active and very able. 
Its tone of sobriety and freedom from sensation- 
alism in a new country Is very remarkable. The 
Melbourne Argus and Sidney Herald are equal to 
any daily journals in New York or London. 



488 A WINDINa JOUENEY 



CHAPTER VI. 



NEW ZEALAND. 



'HERE are 1,200 miles of deep ocean between 
' Australia and New Zealand. Excellent iron 
steamers take you across in four days. The 
sea, opening into the Indian Ocean on the south- 
west, is usually stormy and the passage is frequently 
disagreeable; but the steamers are strong and safe- 
" I have not yet seen an Atlantic liner," says Mr. 
Archibald Forbes, "whose state-room accommodation 
Is equal in completeness, prettiness and comfort 
to that which the Australian voyager will find on 
some of the Union Company of New Zealand's 
steamers. Spring mattrasses, electric lights, smart 
and sedulous attendance, perfect cleanliness of linen, 
airiness, and ample daylight these afford." 

The amount of good steam shipping belonging 
to Australia and New Zealand is perfectly astonishing. 
The Union Company has a fleet of more than 
thirty vessels. There are other boats, running 
from port to port, well appointed, seaworthy and 
comfortable as any in the world. There are four 
lines of steamships running between Europe and 
Australia — one French, one German, and two Eng- 
lish. There is also an independent line running 



AROUND THE WORLD. 489 

direct between New Zealand and London, by way 
of Cape Horn. An American line from Sydney 
and Auckland to San Francisco completes the list. 

The New Zealand group consists of two larger 
and several smaller islands. Among the smaller 
ones, Stewart island, towards the Antarctic Ocean, 
to the south, is the most important. The area of 
all the islands in the group is not quite equal to that 
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 

The more northern of the two main islands 
is called by the natives Te ika a Maui, or "the 
Bird of the Maui." It was formerly called New 
Ulster by the English. It is very irregular in form, 
and from it long peninsulas run out like tongues 
into the sea. It is much more mountainous than 
Australia, but not so mountainous as the lower 
New Zealand island. There is a volcanic group 
in the center, of which Mount Ruapehu is 9,195 
feet high, and the " active volcano of Ngaurahoe 
is nearly 7,000 feet high. Nearly the whole island 
is composed of extinct or active volcanoes. As I 
stood on the summit of Mount Eden at Auckland, 
a citizen pointed out to me thirty-seven craters in 
view, the fires of which are no longer burning. 
Ranges of mountains or high hills, the chief of 
which is called by the natives Ruahire, nearly 3,000 
feet high, run parallel to the south-eastern coast, 
and give the island a picturesque appearance from 
the sea. These uplands are heavily wooded and 
make journeys through the interior singularly impres- 
sive and attractive. 



490 A WINDINa JOURNEY 

The southern island is called by the natives Te 
Waki Punamz, "the Place of Greenstone." It was 
formerly called New Munster, or Middle Island, 
by the English. It is separated from the northern 
island by Cook Strait, so called from the great 
navigator. It is mostly covered by lofty mountains 
named the Southern Alps. These mountains extend 
the whole length of the north-western shore, facing 
the sea with lofty walls of granite, and sending off 
massive spurs almost to the Pacific Ocean on the 
south-east. This long north-western shore is not 
unlike the rugged coast of Norway. Fiords pene- 
trate far inland, over which hang granite crags 
twice the height of the Scandinavian coast range. 
Mount Cook, the most elevated summit, is 13,200 
feet high. North of it, Mount Franklin is 10,000 
feet high. South of it, Mount Aspiring rises to 
the height of 9,940 feet. A great number of 
waterfalls seem to drop down thousands of feet 
from the very sky. Inland, among the mountains, 
nestle innumerable lakes in solitary grandeur. On 
the southeastern side of the mountains are some 
fruitful reaches of level country, like the Plains of 
Canterbury, and fertile valleys penetrate inland 
between the mountain buttresses, watered with 
crystal streams. 

The northern island is famous for the geysers 
and hot-water lakes, far surpassing in magnitude 
those of Iceland, which abound in the central group 
of volcanic mountains. The Pink and White Ter- 
races, probably the most exquisite piece of Nature's 



AROUND THE WORLD. 491 

handiwork In all the world, were ruthlessly 
destroyed by a volcanic eruption some months 
before my visit to New Zealand. 

"But what," says a brilliant writer, "is any distant 
and bird's-eye view of the White Terrace to the revelation 
of beauty that strikes one dumb when he ascends the steps 
of this magniiicent staircase! Could Eastern fabulist in 
his wildest flights imagine any work of the Genii to equal 
the exquisite workmanship of this range of sculptured 
fountains ! One might talk of snow wreaths, of alabaster, 
of Parian marble, of any substance pure and rare, but 
all such comparisons would but mislead. The whiteness 
f{ the terrace is not the whiteness of snow or marble, nor 
has it the bluish transparency of alabaster. It has a soft 
warm flush, which may sometimes be seen in certain madre- 
pores, and which, possibly, might be sucessfully reproduced 
in porcelain. On reaching the foot of the terrace a short 
walk over a glistening surface of ripiDling silica, hard as 
a pavement of marble, brings one to the lower basins where 
the water, having had time to cool in its slow, trickling 
descent, has lost the fierce heat of the cauldron, and become 
merely tepid. The walls of the basin are massive and 
rounded, running into an infinite variety of scallop and 
curvature, the lower part of the wall receding, and the 
upper edge overhanging and forming a thick, rounded lip, 
over which the water trickles in its descent from one basin 
to another, to make its way finally to the lake. The water 
which fills these cold water reservoirs is no less wonderful 
and exquisite in its beauty than the basins which hold it. 
It is blue, but such a blue as is seen nowhere else in nature 
— more delicate than the shade of the sky — a milky, pellucid 
blue, with a gem-like iridescence like the shifting light of an 
opal. The basins rise one above the other in unbroken 
succession, the surface level of one basin forming the base 
for the wall of the next. Hundreds of these lovely reser- 



492 A WINDING JOURNEY 

voirs, of the most bewildering variety, go to form the 
terrace — no one the exact pattern of its neighbor — the 
irregular sweeping curve of one being abruptly intersected 
or broken by the arc of another, but each in shape more 
exquisite than any curve that could be drawn with compass. 
As you ascend, the steps become purer in tint, and more 
richly chased and fretted. Their infinite variety of size and 
form, and their exquisite beauty produce at first an impres- 
sion akin to bewilderment. But when the first bewildering 
flush of surprise has passed, there is a placidity and repose 
in this petrified torrent — a hushed stillness and mighty 
enduring strength which fills one's mind with a sense of 
the Eternal. 

"Examined in detail, the Pink Terrace, though lovely 
past description, is yet not so exquisitely beautiful as its 
white sister. The warm and faint coralline flush of the one, 
how much more chaste and delicate than the ruddy glow 
of the other! The broad and massive steps of the Pink 
Terrace, wonderful as they are, lack the infinitely varied 
reticulation and tracery so characteristic of the White. 
The Pink Terrace, like the White, has its origin in a geyser 
raised a considerable distance above the level of the lake. 
As you ascend the various steps are seen to be broad, level 
platforms, not cupped and lipped as in the White Terrace, 
but faced with beautifully curved masses of pink stalactite; 
Towards the top, however, several of the ledges form basins 
four or five feet deep, and filled with water of the deepest 
blue — not the wonderful opalescent color of the white basins, 
but a clear sapphire blue matching the color of the sky 
overhead. Here is probably the most delightful ^bath in 
the whole world. Such a bath ! The smooth and rounded 
edges on which you rest your hands or head, as on a cushion, 
the polished sides soft and tender to the limbs as walls of 
alabaster, the finely powdered silica on which the foot rests 
as on the finest silver sand, and the warm, blue water lapping 
the body in Elysium — a sensuous heaven equal to this was 
never dreamt of by Mohammed or I^ero." 



AEOUND THE WORLD. 493 

"Above all," says Miss Gordon Cummlng, "we have 
walked up and down all over the wondrous marble stairways, 
till their loveliness has become a familiar thing ; and oh, 
wonderful new sensation ! New possibility in luxury ! We 
have bathed in these perfect marble baths, selecting from 
among a thousand the very pool of the exact temperature 
and depth that seemed most pleasant, and therein have 
lain, rejoicing like true Maoris, till we ourselves were coated 
with a thin film of silica from the flinty water, so that we 
feel like satin, a dehght to ourselves." 

Alas ! this inexpressibly beautiful piece of 
Nature's ornamental work was destroyed in a 
single hour of volcanic terror, and its place was 
occupied by a foul sea of sulphurous mud. 

"What had actually taken place," says the Auckland 
Evening Star, of June 10, 1886, " the fall extent of the dis- 
turbance and destruction only became known piecemeal. It 
appears the first outbreak began in the peak of Tarawera, 
known as Euawhia. Flames were belched forth, together 
with red-hot stones, while electric flashes of extraordinary 
brilliancy played about the huge, black, mushroom-shaped 
cloud, which hovered high over the mountain. An enormous 
crater opened out in the side of Tarawera, near Eotomahana, 
from which vast quantities of stones, dust, and ashes were 
thrown. When these terrifying phenomena had taken place 
for about an hour, craters opened in and around Lake 
Eotomahana, and vomited forth enormous quantities of 
heavy mud, which, with hardly conceivable rapidity, spread 
disaster for miles around. Fifteen active fiimoroles, belching 
forth stones have been counted on the site of Eotomahana, 
and one of the largest occupies the place where the Pink 
Terrace once was. The White Terrace could not be seen 
for the heavy clouds of smoke and steam in which it was 
enveloped; but subsequent examinations have established 



494 A WINDING JOURNEY 

beyond question tliat tliese beautiful structures, whicli had 
occupied Nature so many centuries in constructing, have 
been ruthlessly annihilated within a single hour." 

The southern island contains some of the most 
remarkable scenery in the world. It is not volcanic, 
like that of the northern island, but quite the 
opposite. It is of three kinds : sea-shore, abounding 
in sounds and fiords ; glaciers, rivaling those of Switz- 
erland, clothing the slopes of great mountains ; and 
lakes of surpassing beauty. Speaking of the west 
coast sounds, Mr. J. Hingston says : 

^^Save in the similarly-shaped I^orwegian fiords there is 
nothing like these Sounds to be seen about the world. These 
fiords of 'New Zealand have the great advantage over those 
of Norway in being situated in a climate that is more pro- 
pitious to vegetation, and to the traveler's enjoyment. Their 
inaccessibility has helped to keep them hitherto almost 
unknown, but the world is opening out to the tourist and 
the dark places of the earth are having light thrown upon 
them. Tall, frowning rocks that here form the coast line, 
are intersected every few miles by the portals of these extra- 
ordinary inlets. The Sounds are green-walled enclosures 
of deepest waters that run inland among the surrounding 
mountains for eight to twenty miles in their winding course.'' 

Althouofh the mountain v^ralls of these New 
Zealand Sounds are higher, and more luxuriantly 
clothed with forests and bright green vegetation, 
among which tree ferns abound, yet the Norwe- 
gian coast has more islands, and its fiords are 
flooded with the endless hues of the reflected light 
of the midniofht sun. 



AKOUND THE WOELD. 495 

The Tasman glacier, in the southern island, sur- 
passes any glacier among the Alps. Mr. Spotts- 
wood Green, a member of the Alpine Club, who 
went to New Zealand with two Swiss guides to see 
this glacier, describes it thus : 

"I^o words at my command can express our feelings when 
we stood for the first time in the midst of that glorious 
panorama. I tried vainly to recall the view of the great 
Aletsch Glacier, in front of the Concordia Hut to establish 
some standard for comparison. Then I tried the Goerner, on 
the way to Mouta Eosa ; but the present scene so incom- 
parably asserted its own grandeur, that we all felt compelled 
to confess in that instant that it surpassed anything we had 
ever seen." 

" No gorgeousness of the palette," says John 
Ruskin, " can reach the effects of daylight on 
ordinary colors. But it is widely different when 
Nature herself takes a coloring fit and does some- 
thing extraordinary, something really to exhibit her 
powers." The lakes of the southern New Zealand 
island, many in number, embowered in wooded 
mountains, gemmed with green islets, surpass in 
beauty those of Scotland and Upper Italy. When 
sailing over them, in the most exquisite of all 
climates, 

" Earth and heaven seem one, 
Life a glad trembling on the outer edge 
Of unknown rapture." 

According to the census of 1866, the population 
of New Zealand was 578,283. Nearly ten per 
cent, should now be added. At the same time, the 



496 A WINDING JOURNEY 

Maoris, or the native population, numbered 41,432. 
The male population exceeded the female at the 
rate of 100 to 85.21. Births were 34.78 to the 
1,000. Deaths were only 10.74 to the 1,000. In 
no region in the world is the death-rate so low. 

" The climate's delicate ; the air most sweet, 
Fertile the soil." 

The revenue from taxation, crown lands, rail- 
ways, post and telegraphs, and other sources, was 
£4,096,996, being less per capita than in any of 
the Australian colonies except Victoria. At the 
same time the public expenditure on railways, post 
and telegraphs, interest and expenses of public 
debt, and other services, exclusive of expenditure 
from loans, was ,£4,282,901. The expenditure from 
loans was £1,778,884. 

On the I St of January, 1886, the public debt 
of New Zealand was £35,790,422. No other peo- 
ple on earth have shown such genius for obtain- 
ing credit as the New Zealanders. The debt per 
capita was over £62. The colonists had a long 
and expensive war with the Maoris which accounts 
in part, for their vast debt. It is very difficult 
to realize the weight of the burden borne by the 
people there. The city of Chicago has a larger 
population and more taxable wealth than New 
Zealand. If Chicago had a muncipal debt of 
$175,000,000 it would be regarded in this country 
as in a state of bankruptcy. The debt of New 
Zealand is really greater than that of New York, 



AROUND THE WORLD. 497 

with its vast population and its accumulated mil- 
lions of property. The inhabitants of the American 
metropolis sometimes think their burden is greater 
than they can bear, but it is light in comparison 
with the load of debt on the shoulders of these 
British colonists on the other side of the globe. 
Yet the New Zealanders are really light-hearted 
and look to the future with hope. 

The value of the imports of New Zealand was 
£7,479,921, in 1885. The value of the exports, 
during the same year, was £6,819,989. The shipping 
for that year was 1,566 vessels, or 1,032,700 tons. 
The commerce of the country is rapidly increasing. 

The total length of railroads in New Zealand 
is about 2,000 miles. Although the expense of 
building railroads in a mountainous country has 
been great, and although the population is far 
from being dense, the proportion of net receipts 
to capital cost is about three per cent. 

In 1885 there were 1,011 post-offices in New 
Zealand; 37,149,788 letters and post cards, and 
14,233,878 newspapers, were caried, at a cost of 
£171,282, with a revenue of £267,671. There were 
4,662 miles of telegraph; 1,774,273 messages were 
transmitted, for which £87,918 were received. 

Up to the end of 1885, the total number of 
acres of crown land alienated was 18,558,355. The 
number of acres unsold was 47,851,975. About 
16,000,000 acres belong to the Maoris, or to 
Europeans who have purchased from them. 

There were at . the same period i ,02 1 public 

32 



498 A WINDING JOUENEY 

schools, 2,619 teachers, and 141,298 pupils enrolled, 
of which 78,327 were in average attendance. The 
net cost to the State was £300,759. Public instruc- 
tion is free. The system of education is com- 
pulsory and secular. The prescribed age of attend- 
ance at school is from seven to thirteen. 

The total number of acres under tillage was 
1,265,975. The total product was 4,242,285 
bushels of wheat, 8,603,702 bushels of oats, 
896,816 bushels of barley, 113,752 tons of pota- 
toes, and 245,818 tons of hay. The product per acre 
in New Zealand was greater than in any of the 
other colonies. There were 187,382 horses, 70,408 
cattle, 369,992 pigs, and 16,677,445 sheep. Only 
New South Wales had a greater number of 
animals. 

There is at Auckland one of the best univer- 
sities in the colonies, which, like those at Sydney 
Melbourne and Adelaide, requires no religious 
tests, and its degrees have the same legal value 
as degrees conferred by any university in the 
United Kingdom. 

New Zealand is rich in natural resources. 
Gold-mining has become a settled industry, which 
for a long time has been productive. Iron and 
coal are abundant. Silver and tin are not want- 
ing. Petroleum, with the application of American 
enterprise and methods, would be as abundant as 
in Pennsylvania. In the northern island especially 
are forests of pine and other valuable timber. 
The earth is covered with an astonishing growth of 



AROUND THE WORLD. 499 

rank ferns and other vegetation, tangled together 
with "Smilax" into an almost impenetrable mass. 
The climate is moister than in Australia, making 
the soil more productive. The pasturage for sheep 
seems almost exhaustless. Wool has become a 
valuable article of commerce, and a fleet of great 
refrigerator steamships is employed in transporting 
mutton to the London market. 

New Zealand now enjoys responsible govern- 
ment, like other Australian colonies. The legislative 
body consists of a House of Representatives elected 
by manhood suffrage, and a council nominated by 
the governor, who is appointed by the crown. There 
are several Maoris in the House of Representatives. 
The capital has been removed from Auckland, near 
the northern end of the north island, to Wellington, 
on the south-east coast, a more central and con- 
venient locality for both islands. 

The isolated situation of New Zealand marks 
it out for a future nation by itself. If any external 
pressure, if any exigence of self-defense, shall ever 
consolidate the colonies of Australia into a single 
nation, that nation will not include New Zealand. 
A distance of 1,200 miles, across a stormy sea, 
separates the two regions too widely for political 
unity. The two peoples are already showing 
divergence in tastes, habits, aspirations, and inter- 
ests. New Zealand has within itself resources of 
empire far greater than Venice or Holland. It is 
well situated for independent trade with South 
America, with the United States, with Australia, 



500 A WINDING JOUBNEY 

in fact with all the world. Its harbors are numerous 
and safe. Its soil is fertile, and its mineral resources 
are very great. The vigor, beauty, intelligence of 
the native Maoris, show that the country can grow, 
from a good British stock, a wonderful race of 
men. A single century may produce in these far- 
off islands of the Pacific Ocean one of the leading 
maritime powers of the world. 

If there were a fast line of great ocean steam- 
ships running between San Francisco and Auckland, 
making the voyage in ten or twelve days, as they 
might easily do, I have no doubt New Zealand 
would be flooded every winter (our winter their 
summer) with visitors from the United States and 
from England by way of the UAited States. It 
is the healthiest, and one of the most agreeable, 
climates in the world. Rheumatic, gouty, and 
other invalids would find the fabled fountain of 
youth in the warm mineral waters of the northern 
island. Consumptives and asthmatics would find 
healing virtues and prolonged life in the "air most 
sweet" of both islands. I have never visited any 
place in the whole earth where it is such a luxury 
merely to breathe. Lovers of poetry in nature, 
who are not invalids, could find no country in the 
world more charming. Mr. W. Spottswood Green, 
already quoted, says in his " High Alps of New 
Zealand :" " If one had a dozen summers to spend 
in New Zealand, I believe they could be all passed 
in breaking new ground, and in the enjoyment of 
scenery of the most varied beauty." 



AROUND THE WORLD. 501 

From Auckland I took ship for San Francisco, 
It was my intention to write another chapter, giv- 
ing my impression of the Pacific Ocean and some 
of its islands, especially the Sandwich Islands, but 
I was helpless during nearly the whole voyage,, 
with a tropical fever. After ten days spent in 
convalescence, on the Pacific coast, I crossed the 
North American continent to my home. I had 
started eastward and kept going eastward till I 
returned. The more one travels, the more one 
realizes that all peoples, from the beginning of the 
world, in all lands, have been toiling in every 
field of human endeavor, material, mental, and 
moral, and that each generation inherits all the 
fruits of toil in the past : " Other men have 
labored and ye are entered into their labors." 



I]^DEX. 



Academy, the French, annual meeting of attended, 49. 
Acropolis, as it now is, 165; view from, 166 et sequens; as 

it was in the time of Pericles, 171. 
Actium, naval battle of, 154. 
Adelaide, city of Australia, 460. 
Aden, city of, 452. 
Aden, Gulf of, 449. 
Admiralty, at St. Petersburg, 261. 
Adriatic Sea, 149. 
Akaba, Gulf of, 446. 
Albania, 151. 

Alcinous, host of Ulysses, 155. 
Alexander II. of Eussia, 276, 283. 
Alps, 58 ; Styrian, 74. 
Alva, Duke of, 366. 
Amsterdam, 360. 

Andre, Dr. Karl, German journalist, 81. 
Architecture, 67. 
Argonauts, 214 et sequens. 
Argyle, Duchess of, 26. 
Armenia, 224. 

Army, German, 121 ; Italian, 144. 
Aryans, 269. 

Ashburner, Dr., visited, 41. 
Asia Minor, 212. 
Athens, modern city of, 164. 
Auckland, city of, Kew Zealand, 489, 499, 500. 
Auerbach, the novelist, 80. 

503 



604 INDEX. 

Augsburg, 74. 

'' Austral," Orient steamsMp, 461. 

Australia, 463 et sequens. 

Australia, South, province of, 470, 473. 

Australia, West, 471, 474. 

Australian Alps, in Australia, 464. 



Bab-El-Mandeb, Straits of, 444; "Gate of Tears," 449. 

Bagni di Lucca, summer at, 66. 

Bakshisli, 184, 187, 192, 199. 

Baku, on the Caspian Sea, 223. 

Barni, M., secretary of M. Cousin, 51; review of M. Thier's 

History of Napoleon, by, 51. 
Barristers, two English, pedestrian excursion with, 23. 
Bartlett, and the "diamond wedding," 52. 
Batoum, in Asiatic Eussia, 220. 
Bazaar, of Constantinople, 200. 

Belgium, journey through, 57; described, 255 et seqiiens. 
Bell, London Banker, hospitality of, 38. 
Bently, Eichard, publishes a book for me in London, 84. • 
Berlin, visited, 79, 83, 101. 
Bight, Great Australian, 460, 463. 
Bird Mountain, on the coast of Norway, 328. 
Biscay, Bay of, 429. 
Black Sea, 207 et sequens. 

Blasco de Garay, constructed a steamboat at Barcelona, 93. 
Bormio, Baths of, 72. 
Borodino, Battle of, 277, 399. 
Bosphorus, described, 181, 208. 
Boston, sailed from in 1853, 17. 
Botzen, in the Tyrole, 71. 
Brantenstein, Frau Yon, at Dresden, 362. 
Buchanan, James, Minister at London, 38. 
Buda-Pesth, in Hungary, visited, 76. 
Burgundy, Dukes of, 363. 
Burns, land of visited, 21. 



INDEX. 505 



Byron, quoted, 180, 209, 434. 
Byzantium, its origin, 202. 



Calabrian coast, visited, 71. 

Calvin, Jolin, as ruler of Geneva, 59; his burning of Ser- 
vetus, 60. 

Camels, caravan of, in Asiatic Eussia, 224. 

Campo Santo, at Pisa, 66. 

Canals of Holland, 357. 

Cannina, his architectural maps of Ancient Eoman build- 
ings, 68. 

Carlyle, Thomas, visited, 43; anecdotes of, 44 et sequens. 

Carpentaria, Gulf of, 463. 

Cass, Louis, Minister at Eome, 69. 

Caucasian Mountains, traversed, 227; night scene in, 230; 
summer resort of aristocratic Eussians, 244. 

Caucasus, Lieutenancy of, 235; peoples of, 236; Eussian con- 
quest of, 236 et sequens. 

Cavour, Count, 62, 131, 133, 136. 

Cephalonia, island of, 156. 

Chapman, Mrs. and her daughters at Paris, 50. 

Chinese, in Australia, 482. 

Cholera, at the Baths of Lucca, 66. 

Christiania, 309 et sequens. 

Christianity, in relation to the State, 143; Byzantine intro- 
duced into Eussia, 270. 

Cologne Cathedral, 57. 

Congress, of scientists, at Vienna, 75. 

Constantinople, 181 et sequens. 

Convicts, in Australia, 482. 

Cook, Mount, in ]S"ew. Zealand, 490. 

Cook, Straits, 490. 

Copenhagen, 338 et sequens. 

Corfu, 152 et sequens. 

Corinthians, at Corfu, 154. 

Corn Importation Act, 407. 



506 INDEX. 

Cousin, M. Victor, reconciled to Sir Wm. Hamilton, 28; 

his "True, Beautiful and Good," translated in London, 

47; anecdotes of, 51. 
Gremlin, the, at Moscow 250. 
Crimean War, 55, 137, 210. 
Croatia, 150. 

Cromwell's big hat on a small Yankee, 24. 
Cronstadt, 266. 
Czar, title of first used by Ivan the Terrible, 272. 

Dalmatia, 150. 

Danube, 75. 

Dardanelles, 179. 

Darial Pass, in the Caucasus, 234. 

Davidson, the actor, at Dresden, 79. 

Debt of New Zealand, 496. 

Denmark, 338 et sequens. 

De Quincey, visited, 30; portraiture of, 32. 

Dervishes, of the Caucasus, 234. 

Discoveries in Science, 89; in geography, 406. 

Dogs, of Constantinople, 196. 

Donauwerth, formerly head of navigation on the Danube, 75. 

Don John, of Austria, commander at battle of Lepanto, 160. 

Dresden, winter at, 79. 

Dublin, visited, 35. 

Duel, at Dresden averted, 82. 

Dutch, see Holland. 

Dykes, of Holland, 357. 

East, caution to talking travelers in, 189. 

Eastern Question, 203 et sequens. 

Education, in Germany, 117; in Eussia, 285; in Norway, 
309; in Sweden, 315; in Denmark, 344 ; in England, 
412; in Belgium and Holland, 360; in Australia, 477. 

Emigration, from Germany, 120. 

Emperor, of Austria, 74, 75, 76; of Eussia, 266. 



INDEX. 507 

England, recent progress in, 404. 
Ericsson, inventor of screw steamship, 96. 
Eyoob, mosque of, at Constantinople, 199. 

Fairs, of Eussia, 254. 

Ferdinand, King ''Bomba," of E'aples, 129. 

Ferney, pilgrimage to, the Swiss home of Voltaire, 58. 

Ferrier, Professor, visited, 30. 

Fillmore, President, met at Eome, 70. 

Fiords of New Zealand and I^orway compared, 494. 

Fishing interest of Norway, 309. 

Flemings, of Belgium and Holland, 356. 

Fletcher, Angus, anecdote of, 42 ; invited by to visit 
Dickens, 46 ; letter of introduction from to Madame 
Mohl at Paris, 48. 

Florence, 67 e^ sequens. 

France, 370 et sequens ; compared with Germany, 380 5 cur- 
rent literature of, 385. 

Franchise, in England, 412. 

Free Trade, in England, 418. 

Frieslanders, 356. 

Fuller, Margaret, anecdote of, 20. 

Fulton, apiplied steam to navigation, 93. 

Furor Teutonicus, 111. 

Galata, section of Constantinople, 182. 

Gale, on the Indian Ocean, 460. 

Galla, country and people in Africa, 458. 

Gambetta, meeting with' at the Cafe Procope in Paris, 55. 

Garibaldi, 136. 

Geneva, 58, 391. 

Geographical Society of London, annual dinner of its 

council, 41. 
Germany, 100, et sequens. 
Geysers, in New Zealand, 490. 



Gibraltar, 430. 



508 INDEX. 

Gilbart, London banker, Ms friendliness, 40. 

Gippsland, in Australia, 468. 

Gladstone, 410, 418. 

"Glasgow, City of," lost steamsMp, 56. * 

Gliick, operas of, 79. 

Goethe, 68, 74, 79, 80. 

Golden Horn, 181. 

Goodricli, "Peter Parley," and Ms family, met at Paris, 50. 

Gottenborg, city of Sweden, 314. 

Government, that governs least not the best, 19; in the 

long run a product of the people, 112 ; popular demands 

high virtue, 386. 
Gravesend Eeach, off Tilbury, 426. 
Greece, Modern, 164. 
Greeks, modern, 156, 178. 

Gresham, of "Eainy Park," at Dublin, his hospitality, 35. 
Guardafai, Cape, easternmost point of Africa, 458. 



Hague, capital of Holland, 363. 

Hamilton, Sir William, visited, 27; anecdote of, 28; great 
memory and learning of, 29. 

Hammerfest, northernmost town of the world, 328. 

Hawthorne, crossed the ocean with, 17; letter of introduc- 
tion from, to Minister Buchanan, 38. 

Hayden, Mrs., the American "medium" at London, 42. 

Helsingfors, capital of Finland, 266. 

Hermitage, museum of the, at St. Petersburg, 262. 

Hero, produced rotary motion by steam 2,000 years ago, 93. 

Herodotus, describes the Scythians, 267. 

Hippodrome, at Constantinople, 194. 

Hofer, scenes of his heroism, 72. 

Holland, 355 et sequens. 

Homer, 155, 158, 161, 179. 

Howe, Cape, of Australia, 465. 

Humbolt, sarcasm of, concerning Bayard Taylor, 83. 

Hunt, Freeman, letter from, to Bell at London, 38. 



INDEX. 509 

Immigration^ in Australia, 481. 

Innsbruck, 73. 

Ionian, Sea, 152. 

Ireland, visited, 37; 418. 

Isaac, St., Cathedral of, at St. Petersburg, 263. 

Ischl, summer at, 73. 

Ismailia, on Suez Canal, 440. 

Istria, Peninsula of, 149. 

Italy, 61 et sequens; united, 125 et sequens. 

ItMca, home of Ulysses, 158. 

Ivan, the Terrible, 272. 

Jembo, Port of Medina, 448. 

Jiddah, Port of Mecca, massacre at, 448. 

Johnson, Dr., quoted on the Mediterranean Sea, 433. 

Jostedal, in Norway, 309. 

Journalism, in England, 420; in Australia, 487. 

Jubilee, Victorian, 404. 

Kaiser, the aged, of Germany, contrasted with the Sultan 

of Turkey, 189. 
Kangaroo, in Australia, 485. 
Karlskrona, in Sweden, 314. 
Kars, fortress of, 222. 
Kasan, Russian city on the Volga, seat of the mogul 

power, 271. 
Kasan Cathedral, at St. Petersburg, 264. 
Kasbek, Mount, a night on the side of, 232. 
Katkoff, Eussian journalist, 278 et sequens. 
Kennan, his account of Eussian Prisons criticised, 287, 

289. 
Killarney, Lakes of, in Ireland, visited, 37. 
Kosciusco, Mount, in Australia, 464. 
Kbniggratz, battle of, 142. 
Kbnigsee, in the Tyrole, 74. 
Krup, his steel guns, 132. 



510 INDEX. 

Kur, river of Asiatic Eussia, 224. 

Kutusof, Eussian general at the battle of Borodino, 277. 



Laboring class, in Australia, 482. 

Lago di Garda, crossed, 71. 

Lake District of England, visited, 19; poets of subject of 

conversation with. De Quincey's daughters, 31. 
Lake Maggiore, crossed in a storm, 62. 
Lakes of New Zealand, 495. 
Lamartine, visited, 51; anecdote of, 52. 
Lamenais, M. de, his funeral attended at Paris, 54. 
Lansdell, Eev. Henry, D. D., on Eussian prisons, 286. 
Laps, settlement of, in Norway, visited, 323. 
Largo, visit to Sir William Hamilton at, 28. 
Lausanne, 58. 
Leander and Hero, 180. 
Leeuwin, Cape, in Australia, 460. 
Leghorn, 67. 

Leipsig, 103 ; battle of, 400. 
Lepanto, battle of, 160. 
Lesseps, M. de, 437. 
Leucadia, island of, 157. 
Levi, Professor, met at dinner, 39. 
Lind, Jenny, at Dresden, 80. 
Loch Leven, 22. 
Lofoden Islands, 332. 
Lombardy, its cities, 64. 
London, first visited, 37 ; 85, 426. 
London Dock gin, how it is made, 40. 
Lothrop, G. V. N., TJ. S. Minister to Eussia, 207. 

265. 

Louis XIV., 370, 387, 397. 
Louis XV., 377, 397. 
Louis XVL, 377, 397. 
Lowell, met at Eome, 69. 
Lyons, stormy Gulf of, 432. 



INDEX. 511 

Malmo, city in Sweden, 315. 

Mahomet II., captured Constantinople, 203. 

Malea Promontory, its winds, 162. 

Malstrom, 336. 

Mancliester, visited, 34. 

Manfrini Palace, at Venice, 126. 

Maoris, of S'ew Zealand, 496, 499, 500. 

Margaret, of Denmark, 346. 

Marmora, Sea of, 179, 161. 

Martineau, Miss Harriet, visited, 20. 

Masonic sign, the finance minister of Turkey introduces 
himself by, 78. 

Marseilles, city of France, 61. 

Matapan, Cape, 162, 

Maximillian, of Austria, 76, 149. 

Mazzini, 131, 136, 146. 

Mayence, 57. 

Mecca, 448. 

Medina, 448. 

Mediterranean Sea, 433, 434. 

Melbourne, founded, 473 ; described, 487. 

''Melbourne Cup," great horse race, 486. 

Menzaleh, Lake, in Egypt, 439. 

Messina, 70, 162. 

Midnight sun, 324, 331, 334. 

Milan and its cathedral, 65. 

Mineralnya-Vodi, in Eussia, 244. 

Minerals in Australia, 468. 

Minister, American at Paris, 53. 

Miramon, chateau of, at Trieste, 149. 

Moguls, 271. 

Mohl, Madame, at Paris, 48; her salon, 49. 

Moscow, 249; Napoleon at, 250; its Cremlin, 250; the edi- 
fices of, 250 et sequens; great bell of, 251; became the 
capital of Eussia, 272. 

Mont Blanc, drive to in winter, 60. 

Montenegro, 151. 



512 INDEX. 

Moore, Morris, art critic of tlie London Times, 82. 

Mosques of Constantinople, 192. 

Mount ^tna, 70. 

Mozart, 73. 

Munich, 74. 

Music, 67. 

Murray, Eiver of Australia, 465. 

McDonald, Sir John, crossed the Atlantic with, 18. 

Naples, 70, 128, 432. 

Napoleon, 249, 367, 378, 392, 398, 403, 405. 

Napoleon, Louis, misused by French society, 48 ; wept at 

review of Crimean veterans, 85 ; prison of at CasseU, 

102; 133, 138, 143, 397, 402. 
Nation, definition of, 106, 146. 
Nauplia, Bay of, 163. 
Needles, the, 427. 

Netherlands, see Holland and Belgium. 
Neva, Russian river, 257, 261, 262. 

Nevski Prospekt, fine boulevard at St. Petersburg, 261, 264. 
New South Wales, province of Australia, 469. 
New Zealand, 488 et sequens. 
Niagara, steamship, 17. 
Nice, winter at, 61. 

Nicholas, Czar of Eussia, 252, 256, 283. 
Nicopol, silver vase of, 268. 
Night, arctic, 335. 
Nightingale, Florence, 201. 
Nihilism, in Eussia, 291 et sequens. 
"Nore" light ship at the mouth of the Thames, 427. 
North Cape, cruise to, 317 ; 329. 
Norway, 296, 307, 310, 320. 

Ocean, navigation of, 72 et sequens. 
Oertler Glacier, described, 72. 
OfScialism, in Germany, 115. 



INDEX. 513 

Olga, introduced Byzantine Christianity into Eussia, 270. 
Olympia, 161. 
Otranto, Straits of, 152. 
Owen, Eobert Dale, 71. 

Pall Mall Gazette, article in on Eussian prisons, 290. 

Palceologus, Constantine, the last of the Greek Emperors, 199. 

Panslavism, 282. 

Paris, its society, 48 ; its monuments, 55 ; revisited, 85. 

Parliamentary reform, in England, 409. 

Paxos, noted for quail, 156. 

Peasant, Eussian, 248. 

Pececho, Spanish ambassador at Paris, ball given by 

attended, 53. 
Peel, Sir Eobert, 418. 
Pera, part of Constantinople, 182, 185. 
Pericles, 169 et ssquens. 
Perugia, 67. 

Peter the Great, 256, 263, 273. 
Petroleum, as fuel in Eussia, 224. 
Philip, of Spain, 366. 
Phoenicians, as navigators, 97. 
Pictures, favorite, 65. 
Pindar, 161. 
Pink and White Terraces, in New Zealand, 490 ; destroyed, 

493. 
Pio Nono, Pope, 233. 
Pirseus, 163, 178. 
Pisa, 66. 
Plymouth, 428. 

Poland, 271 ; partition of, 274. 
Port Said, 438. 
Portugal, coast of, 429. 
Prague, 77. 

Press, in Australia, 487. 
Prison system in Eussia, 286. 
33 



514 INDEX. 

Procope, Caf6 at Paris, meeting with Gambetta in, 55. 
Putnam, Mr. and Mrs. met at Eome, 69. 



Queensland, a province of Australia, 469, 473. 



Eabbits, in Australia, 467, 478. 

Eace, with stage-coach in Scotland, 25. 

Eadetzky, Austrian general, 137. 

Eailroads, in Eussia, 241 ; in Belgium and Holland, 258. 

Eajah, Indian, traveling to Constantinople, 189. 

Eamadan, Mohamedan, 191. 

Eatazzi, Italian statesman, 137. 

Eed Sea, 444 et sequens. 

Eeef, Great Barrier, on the coast of Australia, 465. 

Eeggio, city of Italy, 70. 

Eevolution, French, 367, 377, 392, 397; of July, 368. 

Ehine, ascent of, 57 ; descent of, 102 ; mouths of, 356. 

Ehone, descent of, 61. 

Eietschel, German sculptor, 81. 

Eiviera, from Nice to Genoa, 65. 

Eobert, of New York, founder of the American College 

at Constantinople, 209. 
Eomanoff, Michael, chosen Emperor by the Eussian people, 

276. 
Eome, 67, 131. 
Eostov, Eussian city, 245. 
Euskin, on Nature's coloring, 495. 
Eussell, Lord John, 410. 
Eussia, Asiatic, 220 et sequens ; European, 239 et sequens ; 

its history and government, 267. 
Eusso-Greek Church, 271. 

Salamis, battle of, 163. 

Salzburg, 73. 

Sanford, secretary of legation at Paris, 50. 



INDEX. 515 

wj'anitation, in England, 422. 

Sappho's Leap, 157. 

Sardinia, 137, 140. 

Scandinavia, 346, 351, 354. 

Schiller, 79. 

Schulenberg, defended Corfu against tlie Turks, 154. 

Scotland, visited, 21 et sequens. 

Sculpture, 67. 

Scutari, 182, 201. 

Scythians, described by Herodotus, 267. 

Sempach, battle of, 389. 

Seraglio Gardens, at Constantinople, 192. 

Servetus, burned by John Calvin at Geneva, 60. 

Seymour, appointed minister to Eussia, met at Paris, 50. 

Shakspear, on the Dresden stage, 79 ; quoted, 210. 

Shamyl, 234, 237. 

Shea, Sir Arthur, at Dresden, 82. 

Siberia, 273. 

Sicily, 70. 

Sickles '^Dan," secretary of legation at London, 38. 

Sinai, Mount, 446. 

Sinaitic peninsula, 447. 

Sinope, on the Euxine, 212. 

Slavs, 148, 150, 203, 269, 275, 282. 

Slesvig-Holstein, 352. 

Socotra, island in the Indian Ocean, 459. 

Somal, country and people of eastern Africa, 456. 

Spain, people of began the anti-Napoleonic revolution, 399. 

Sparrow Hill, at Moscow, 249. 

Spencer Gulf, in Australia, 463. 

Stamboul, Turkish Constantinople, 181. 

Steam, not a motor power, 94. 

Steamship, development of, 93. 

Steamships of Australia and New Zealand, 488. 

Stelvio Pass, crossed, 72. 

Sterling Castle, visited, 24. 

Stockholm, 296 et sequens. 



516 INDEX. 

St. Petersburg, 256 et sequens. 

St. Sophia, at Constantinople, 192. 

Sublime Porte, 192. 

Suez Canal, 435 et sequens; city of, 444. 

Sultan, pageant of going to mosque, 186. 

Sweden, 296, 298, 301, 315, 349. 

Switzerland, 58; described, 387 et sequens; government of, 

393. 
Sydney, in Australia, 486. 



Talleyrand, 402. 

Taormina, in Sicily, 70. 

Tartar, big diligence-conductor in tbe Caucasus, 231. 

Tasman Glacier, in New Zealand, 495. 

Taylor, Bayard, a call from at Dresden, 83. 

Temsah, Lake on Suez Canal, 439. 

Theresa, ''the divine," a Eussian actress, 241. 

Thersites, a female, 78. 

Thorwaldsen, 341, 342. 

Throndhjem, in Norway, 305, 306. 

Thun, Count, ball given by at Vienna, 75. 

Tiflis, in Asiatic Eussia, 225 et sequens. 

Tivoli Gardens, at Copenhagen, 340. 

Torres-Vedras, 401, 429. 

Tourgenieff, Eussian writer at Paris, . 50. 

Trebizonde, in Asia Minor, 213. 

Trent, city of the great ecclesiastical council, 71. 

Trieste, 148. 

Tromso, in Norway, 323. 

Trout, in the Caucasus, 230. 

Troy, 179. 

Turgo, French publicist, 373. 

Turin, 64. 

Turks, 203 et sequens. 

Tyndall, on color in the atmosphere, 444. 

Tyrole, 72. 



INDEX. 517 

TJlpliilas, translation of the Gospels into Gothic, 304. 
Ulysses, at Corcyra, 155 ; sent by King Alcinous to ItMca, 

158 to 162. 
United Provinces, 366. 
United States, War of Independence, 377. 
Universities of England, 414. 
Upsala, 303 et sequens. 
Ushant, French Cape of the Bay of Biscay, 429. 

Van Bnren, ex-President, visited at Nice, 61. 
Varangian rulers of Eussia, 270. 
Venice, 64, 71, 126. 
Verona, 125. 

Victor Emmanuel, 130, 131. 
Victoria, colony of Australia, 468, 472. 
Victoria, Queen of England, first seen, 27 ; long and pros- 
perous reign of, 404. 
Vienna, sojourn at, 75. 
Viking, ancient ship, at Christiana, 311. 
Vladicavcas, Eussian city, 235, 239. 
Voting, method of, in Australia, 480. 

Walhalla, 75. 

Walloons, 356. 

Wanderjahre, 85. 

Waterloo, battle of, 396 et sequens. 

Watt, inventor of the steam-engine, 193. 

Wellington, the great English general, 401. 

Wellington, city of, present capital of New Zealand, 499. 

Westminster, Marquis of, his country seat visited, 18. 

Wight, Isle of, 427. 

William of Orange, 366. 

William, present Emperor of Germany 123. 

Winckelmann, great German writer on art, 68, 149. 

Windmills of Holland, 358. 

Winter Palace, at St. Petersburg, 262. 



518 INDEX. 

Wolf, Sir Henry Drummond, 187. 

Wolves, in the Caucasus, 231. 

Woolsey, Sir G., at Ismailia, 440. 

Wordsworth, his Ode on Immortality read by De Quincey, 33. 

York, in England, 34. 
York, Australian Cape, 464. 

Zante, island of, 161. 

Ziegler, Alexander, called on me at Dresden, with Bayard 
Taylor, 83. 




V 



